Reclamation and Closure

British Columbia's world-class reclamation laws ensure that upon mine closure, land, watercourses and cultural heritage resources are returned to a safe and environmentally sound state.

Permits and annual reporting

Before starting work at a mine site, companies are required to obtain a permit approving the mine plan, a program for protection of the land and watercourses, and a reclamation program. Permittees are required to submit annual reclamation reports to the ministry in compliance with their Mines Act permits and the Health, Safety and Reclamation Code for Mines in British Columbia.

Reclamation security

Mining companies must also place a security with the Province to ensure reclamation obligations are kept. This security is only returned once the mine site has been reclaimed to a satisfactory level and there are no ongoing monitoring or maintenance requirements. The intent of the Province’s reclamation legislation is to ensure that modern mine sites in B.C. do not leave an ongoing legacy or require public funds for clean-up activities.

Mine reclamation and climate change

Consideration of climate change in mine reclamation planning

The consideration of climate change in mine reclamation planning document (PDF, 3.1MB) considers climate change in reclamation planning for major mines .

The document provides:

• A description of how climate change affects different aspects of mine reclamation and closure planning and implementation, and how these effects can be addressed
• A list of existing available tools that reclamation practitioners can use to incorporate climate change into reclamation planning
• A case study using a hypothetical mine that demonstrates the use of tools described in this guidance document to develop reclamation treatments that include considerations of climate change

Consideration of ecosystem carbon in mine reclamation

The consideration of ecosystem carbon in mine reclamation document (PDF, 1.88MB) provides suggestions on the consideration of carbon in mine reclamation. Note: The ministry is not requiring proponents to incorporate metrics of carbon accounting and sequestration into their projects. However, there are circumstances where this approach may be beneficial and worth exploring for certain sites. This document provides proponents and reclamation practitioners with suggested approaches and methods to consider.

The document discusses how:

• Carbon can be used as an indicator of reclamation success
• Practitioners can build carbon stocks, and reduce carbon losses in reclamation ecosystems using different reclamation treatments

Climate change and reclamation jurisdictional scan

With funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada, this project was to conducted to assist the ministry in the integration of climate-change and carbon considerations into the management and reclamation of major mines in B.C.

This literature review and jurisdictional scan (PDF, 1.3MB) covers:

• Climate-change factors
• Ecosystem carbon accounting approaches
• Carbon-sequestration techniques related to mine reclamation