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What happens to land after a mine closes?

Rehabilitation plans, security deposits and the gaps the NSW Auditor-General found. Nana Flint follows the dozer to the end of the job.

Isn't a mine supposed to fix the land when it's done?

Yes. In NSW, the Resources Regulator oversees this under the Mining Act 1992. Miners are expected to rehabilitate progressively, which means as soon as reasonably practicable after the ground is disturbed. Not all in one go at the end.

The Regulator checks this through annual reporting and inspections. It also runs targeted assessment programs: a review before the visit, an on-site check, then findings and follow-up.

What paperwork does a mine keep?

A rehabilitation management plan sets out the site's rehabilitation risks, how they'll be controlled, how they'll be monitored and who has the skills to do it. A forward program lays out the planned rehabilitation work and timing alongside the mining. An annual report shows progress against those commitments.

The Regulator names six areas where critical controls matter: pulling down built infrastructure, managing materials and soil, shaping the final landform, revegetation, surface and groundwater, and tailings storage.

Who pays if the miner can't?

That's what a rehabilitation security deposit is for. Miners lodge money with the state as a guarantee. A lease can only be handed back, or relinquished, when the miner shows rehabilitation objectives are met and the site fits its approved final land use.

Does it work?

The NSW Audit Office looked at this in a report dated 25 June 2025. It examined how well the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, through the Resources Regulator, monitored and enforced rehabilitation at large mines.

About 150 large mines had to report rehabilitation data, and around 95 per cent did for 2023. As of December 2023, only about 35 per cent of disturbed land was under rehabilitation, and less than 1 per cent had completed it.

Security deposits grew from $3.1 billion in 2019–20 to about $4 billion in 2023–24. Even so, the audit estimated a shortfall of around $114 million across 27 mines as of December 2024. About 20 large mines had deposits likely well below what rehabilitation would cost. The Regulator's cost tool was last updated in 2020–21, with no interim inflation adjustment.

The audit also found notices issued fell by about 80 per cent over five years, from 60 in 2019–20 to 13 in 2023–24. It said the data framework wasn't comprehensive or reliable, and that there was no plan to evaluate whether regulation was working.

What did the auditor recommend?

Four things: a monitoring and evaluation plan by June 2026; fixing the data gaps; public performance indicators and targets for rehabilitation; and better governance to manage conflict-of-duty risks inside the regulator.

What does good practice look like?

The Australian Government's Mine Closure handbook, published in 2016 as part of its Leading Practice Sustainable Development Program, says closure planning should start at exploration, not at the end. Closure objectives and completion criteria should be agreed with stakeholders during approvals.

It treats mining as a temporary land use and asks what comes next: farming, conservation, heritage or something else that serves the community. And it calls for closure plans that are reviewed and adjusted as the mine's life goes on, with the community involved throughout.

So what should a neighbour ask?

What is the agreed final land use? How much of the disturbed ground is already under rehabilitation? And is the security deposit enough to finish the job?

Nana Flint · opinion

The rules on paper are decent. It's the less-than-one-per-cent finished that keeps me up. A plan nobody completes is just a nice drawing. Right. Who's cleaning this up, and will they still be around when it's time?

Sources

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