The Abandoned Mines Program (AMP) began in 2015 following the enactment of the Mining Rehabilitation Fund (MRF Act) and release of the Western Australian Government’s Abandoned Mines Policy. The policy provides an overarching framework for the prioritisation and rehabilitation and/or management of abandoned mine sites. It requires that sites are prioritised with consideration to significant risks to the community and the environment, and that potential value associated with a site is identified and protected.
Western Australia has a rich mining history. Thousands of abandoned mine features still exist across the State, including shafts, costeans, large pit voids and waste rock landforms. Many of these abandoned mine features have been captured in the Abandoned Mines Inventory.
The AMP develops and implements projects to rehabilitate abandoned mines in Western Australia using funds generated through the Mining Rehabilitation Fund.
AMP strategic plan
The AMP’s overarching vision is developed within the program’s Strategic Plan: ‘to be the leading practitioner in the management of abandoned mine features’. The AMP project planning framework utilises strategic, outcome-based objectives and adaptive management to achieve long-term sustainable outcomes. The plan identifies key initiatives that will support the program’s execution, which are reviewed and implemented in line with annual budget development.
View Abandoned Mines program strategic plans
Mining Rehabilitation Fund
The Mining Rehabilitation Fund (MRF) was introduced in 2013. It is the State’s first dedicated and perpetual fund for the rehabilitation of abandoned mines. The MRF requires WA mining operators to contribute yearly, removing the burden from the WA community to pay for the rehabilitation of abandoned mining operations
Money in the fund is available to rehabilitate abandoned mines across the State where the tenement holder/operator has failed to meet rehabilitation obligations and efforts to recover funds from the holder/operator have been unsuccessful. MRF Principal can be used to rehabilitate abandoned mine sites where tenement holders have contributed to the fund. Interest earned on fund contributions is used to fund the administration of the MRF and to undertake rehabilitation work on legacy abandoned mine sites throughout the State.
MRF yearly reports outline the key activities and achievements of the MRF and AMP and detail the progress of project work completed through the AMP.
