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The comprehensive regulations also include guidelines for operating mines, covering mineral deposit development, safety measures, and pollution control protocols. 👉 https://mybs.in/2dXMJ8R #MiningRegulations #MineralDevelopment #SafetyMeasures #PollutionControl #SustainableMining #EnvironmentalProtection #India #Mining #BusinessStandard #nitinaayog

Really underscores the importance of developing #mine #closure plans that are dynamic documents that undergo regular review and are frequently updated with new information. 

Reminder of the ongoing public comment period for the Coyote Creek Mine Supplemental Environmental Assessment (EA)! The public comment period opened on December 7, 2023, and will close on January 5, 2024. Coyote Creek Mining Company owns and operates the Coyote Creek Mine in Mercer County, North Dakota. The Coyote Creek Mine uses standard surface strip-mining procedures to mine private and Federal coal resources. Coal is currently mined from two permit areas: NACC-1302. The proposed Federal mining plan under consideration would mine coal in Federal lease NDM-110277 within the existing boundaries of North Dakota Public Service Commission Permits NACC-1302. If approved, the proposed Federal mining plan would allow the mining of 5.2 million tons of Federal coal within approximately 320 acres. The EA and the unsigned Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) are available for review at: https://lnkd.in/eMz98FtT All emailed and mailed comments must be received or postmarked by January 5, 2023 to be considered. Comments may be emailed to: OSM-nepa-nd@OSMRE.gov with the subject line "ATTN: OSMRE, Coyote Creek SEA". Comments may be mailed to: ATTN: OSMRE, Coyote Creek SEA C/O: Logan Sholar, OSMRE Western Region P.O. Box 25065 Lakewood, CO 80225-5065 Please note that comments made on social media are not considered official records. 📷: Courtesy of Coyote Creek Mine

Sad times for mining ⛏️ in the Yukon. I feel like this and other issues have been a failure of the Yukon Government and the mining industry. It’s easy to point the finger at the government for not holding us as mining companies accountable but as reputable companies with huge stakes in the industry we as a whole should do better. Instead of just following our water licences and land use regulations, we should be holding ourselves to an almost impossible standard. And accountability should be held down the line. Employers should have much better training on how their actions affect the environment. And what the long-term effects will be. And if I step out of these near to impossible guidelines (even as an operator) I should be held accountable. As a mill Operation employee working in the Yukon, BC and The North Wester Territories since 2003 I’ve seen a lot of positive changes come to the mining industry. But we still have a lot of room to grow. The new companies that are up and coming have a uphill challenge to overcome things like this unfortunate situation at the Eagle Gold Mine. But if we as mining companies get ahead of this and do more then what the world expects of us, we can make a world of difference. https://lnkd.in/gtMhhkYY

To help fuel domestic #mining and #mineralprocessing for the #energytransition, it would be great to see action on the Interagency Working Group's recommendation to develop something like the Western Solar Plan for mining on federal lands. Working with various stakeholders, BLM and USFS should put together a plan identifying "priority areas" where proposed projects would be subject to a streamlined #permitting process because there is high development potential with minimal conflicts with #localcommunities, #wildlife, and #plants. Proactive conflict identification and mitigation can help us ramp up production to meet the demands of the #energytransition while not sacrificing #tribal and local #communityengagement and #biodiversityconservation. Great background and additional recommendations contained in the report: https://lnkd.in/eYbMBfq2 "Conflicts over mining and ancillary uses are more likely to arise when mineral-rich areas also contain other highly valuable resources. The IWG believes that much more can be done to identify, avoid, minimize, and mitigate environmental impacts and development conflicts by better integrating land management planning and mineral exploration and development efforts. The IWG encourages the BLM and USFS to identify areas possessing high critical mineral resource development potential and where mineral development is less likely to result in unacceptable impacts to known competing resources. This effort can be modeled after programmatic planning efforts identifying priority areas for wind and solar development, provided additional data is collected in the location of potential mineral resources."

Happy Birthday to the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA)! SMCRA grew out of the environmental concerns around strip mining. Surface coal mining had been around since the 1930s, and some states began regulating them in the 1940s. Despite this, with high demand for coal power, environmental concerns were often set aside or ignored. With regulations varying from state to state, it was hard to hold mining companies to a consistent standard. In the early 1970s, as surface mining became more prevalent, Congress sent mining regulation bills to President Ford, only to be vetoed. Congress persevered, however, and in 1977 President Carter signed SMCRA into law. SMCRA both regulates active coal mines and created a reclamation program for abandoned mine lands. The active mine program sets standards for environmental impacts, require companies to obtain permits and post reclamation bonds prior to mining, gives inspectors authority to review mining operations and enforce violations; and restricts mining altogether on certain lands such as National Parks and Wilderness Areas. For inactive coal mines, SMCRA created an Abandoned Mine Land (AML) fund, financed by a tax on coal, to pay for reclamation and safeguarding of mines that were abandoned prior to 1977 (it was later amended to allow funds to be spent on post-1977 abandoned mines as well). Part of the fund also supports responding to emergencies such as coal fires, subsidence, and landslides. Colorado's Inactive Mine Reclamation Program receives, on average, $3 million each year in "fee based" funding for safeguarding and program operations, in addition to approximately $10 million for coal related reclamation from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. There is no other program to address past mining hazards, and minimal funding is available for environmental projects.

It's hard these days not to focus on the missteps announced with respect to hitting emmissions related targets. I just talked about a recent announcement regarding China's increased coal consumption (https://lnkd.in/gNJYFA_s), but on the bright side there are some very big players saying they are on target for their plans. BHP has led the way in terms of transparency on the topic, setting out details in its annual report. In this Australian Mining article by Kelsie Tibben, we see that: ⛏️BHP executives are confident the company is on track to deliver its 2030 decarbonisation target, with its next goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 locked in. ⛏️ Not surprisingly though, these efforts are not being realized without significant effort and adjustment to business practices. BHP has laid out a roadmap to decreasing its greenhouse gas emissions through supporting the development and adoption of emissions reduction technologies in steelmaking. ⛏️ This involves enhancing the quality of the iron ore and steelmaking coal it produces, as well as supporting the uptake of decarbonising technologies and net-zero initiatives downstream in its shipping and supplier partnerships. ⛏️ BHP Minerals Australia planning and technical vice president Anna Wiley weighed in on the major’s Australian operations, where there is a focus on reducing diesel consumption. “Each year, our Australian operations use roughly 1500 megalitres of diesel in over 1000 pieces of equipment,” Wiley said. “Electrification is our preferred pathway to eliminate this diesel. Replacing diesel requires BHP to develop a whole new operational ecosystem to surround the fleet and every part of the mine will be affected by this change.

Ending Mountain Top Coal Mining With the recent court ruling allowing southern Alberta stakeholders to challenge the permit requests of Australian mountain top coal mining, the fight is yet again carried forth to protect our fragile alpine ecosystems and watersheds. No matter how many times common sense seems to prevail on ending this destructive extraction process, those in power spitefully push back behind closed doors to keep the practice alive. It isn't difficult to understand why the issue won't die. Those in power feel that any rejection of natural resource exploitation is a rejection to all development, though untrue. While clean energy technologies were fully underway to solve some of our utility requirements, the recent moratoriums and cancelations by those in the hallowed halls of power have set programs back on their heels for the foreseeable future, while dirty technologies remain supported. In a province where regulation is performed by industry itself, and legal action amounts to chump-change for conglomerates, we still have to rely on citizen action groups for common sense protective action. Is this trending a true attempt to keep Alberta economically viable, or is it a form of spite to anyone from within or outside of the province who has insights on climate friendly and ecologically sound practices? What kind of future are we leaving for our children? When all is said and done, ecosystems must outlast the revenue.

Financial Times reports that mining companies must step up efforts to protect the environment or they will be blocked from developing the supplies of metal needed for the global transition to clean energy. Failure to protect the environment will create real challenges for the supply of copper, lithium and iron ore in the coming years for the world to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, which will require building wind farms, electric cars and power lines. Silixa is one of a number of entrants providing cost effective robust solutions that are becoming available to monitor tailings dams, pipelines and the stability of stored solid waste, failure of which is often the source of environmental harm. Despite signs of increasing adoption of improved technologies, the emerging new generation of solution providers are often surprised by the slow take up of practices that have been applied in other sectors for decades. We will not achieve our net zero goals unless indigenous and local communities are satisfied that mining groups will operate to high environmental standards. We are pleased to see that the sector is aware of its broadening responsibilities as the providers of advanced techniques are ready to serve.

The 30-day public comment period for the Coyote Creek Mine Supplemental Environmental Assessment (EA) closes on January 5, 2024. All emailed and mailed comments must be received or postmarked by January 5, 2023 to be considered. Comments may be emailed to: OSM-nepa-nd@OSMRE.gov with the subject line "ATTN: OSMRE, Coyote Creek SEA". Comments may be mailed to: ATTN: OSMRE, Coyote Creek SEA C/O: Logan Sholar, OSMRE Western Region P.O. Box 25065 Lakewood, CO 80225-5065 Please note that comments made on social media are not considered official records. Coyote Creek Mining Company owns and operates the Coyote Creek Mine in Mercer County, North Dakota. The Coyote Creek Mine uses standard surface strip-mining procedures to mine private and Federal coal resources. Coal is currently mined from two permit areas: NACC-1302. The proposed Federal mining plan under consideration would mine coal in Federal lease NDM-110277 within the existing boundaries of North Dakota Public Service Commission Permits NACC-1302. If approved, the proposed Federal mining plan would allow the mining of 5.2 million tons of Federal coal within approximately 320 acres. The EA and the unsigned Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) are available for review as of December 7, 2023. To review the planning documents and find more Coyote Creek Mine information, please visit: https://lnkd.in/eMz98FtT Photo Courtesy of Coyote Creek Mine.