A RISK BASED APPROACH TO SELECT THE PRE-MATURE CLOSURE FACTORS OF AN OPEN-PIT MINE
ARASH EBRAHIMABADI *
Department of Mining, Qaemshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qaemshahr, Iran.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Mine closure, followed by the process of mine reclamation, is the 4th and last phase of mine planning after phases of planning, implementation and production. After a mine’s deposit was excavated, that mine should be closed. However, there are some reasons for closing the mines pre-maturely. The reasons for pre-mature mine closure may include economic, geological, geotechnical, regulatory, community and other socio-political pressures. Hence, selection of premature mine closure is a multidisciplinary issue that needs to be noticed appropriately. The objective of this research work is to choose the major mine closure factors through using a risk assessment approach (Closure risk model) as a powerful management tool for evaluation of mine closure risk factor. With this respect, a case study was carried out at Choghart open pit iron mine. The results of application of this model to the mine demonstrated that the mine has a low closure risk with closure probability of nearly 30%, however, environmental (risk value of 452) and community (risk value of 127) factors were found to be as a major pre-mature closure causes. Therefore, these issues need to be paid special attention by managers.
Keywords: Risk based approach, pre-mature, closure factors, open-pit mine