Mine closure liabilities have grown significantly in recent years, with individual sites often carrying closure obligations valued in the hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars. Increasing regulatory expectations, evolving environmental standards and greater investor scrutiny mean that closure can no longer be treated as a standalone activity undertaken at the end of mining operations.

Closure outcomes are shaped by decisions made throughout the life of the asset. Choices related to mine planning, waste management, water systems and biodiversity management can either eliminate risks early or lock operations into costly long-term interventions.

A lifecycle approach helps organisations integrate closure considerations into everyday operational and strategic decisions. This includes:

• Aligning operational KPIs with closure objectives 
• Validating commitments against technical and financial realities 
• Ensuring that post-mining land uses remain achievable over time. 

In this chapter of the mining guide, Kim Ferguson, director of mine closure (global), together with Kyle Knopff, senior principal ecologist, and Dan Walker, senior water engineer, highlight the role of progressive closure. By implementing reclamation, remediation and water management activities during operations, companies can test assumptions, generate evidence and adapt their strategies before closure conditions become fixed. This reduces uncertainty while building confidence among regulators, communities and Indigenous rightsholders.

Another key question is what closure really means when long-term stewardship responsibilities can extend well beyond the end of mining. Complete relinquishment remains rare, particularly where ongoing water management or environmental monitoring is required. As a result, mining companies may need to think beyond regulatory closure and consider how land can continue to provide ecological, social and economic value over decades.

The most significant closure risks often emerge where water, waste management, biodiversity and land use intersect. Successfully managing these risks requires integrated decision-making across disciplines, continuous testing of assumptions and clear accountability throughout the asset lifecycle.

As closure expectations continue to evolve, the organisations best positioned for success will be those that treat closure not as a future event, but as a continuous process of value creation, risk reduction and responsible stewardship.