Environmental officers from DMIRS attended this year’s Goldfields Environmental Group (GEMG) workshop.
| Date: | Monday, 21 May 2018 |
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Environmental officer, Laura Copeland, attended this year’s Goldfields Environmental Management Group (GEMG) workshop to provide the Goldfields mining industry with an update on the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation & Safety’s (DMIRS) relinquishment framework project.
Ms Copeland spoke about the background of the project and said the relinquishment project started in 2016.
“DMIRS facilitated a ‘future direction’ workshop with AMEC, CME and other government agencies, which established the need for a whole-of-government approach to mine site relinquishment. We approached the various departments involved at the mine site closure stage to see if they would be interested to take part and kicked off the project in the November,” she said.
“Seven agencies came on board, including DMIRS, and for the past 18 months have held several workshops to produce content for the discussion paper. The paper, now in a draft format, clearly defines the roles of the agencies involved in relinquishment, provides consistent terminology and an outline of a transparent relinquishment framework.
“Presenting at GEMG has been the ideal platform to provide industry with an update. We shared feedback from the cross-agency working group which has been positive, with a small number of challenges to be worked through. DMIRS will continue its work on the relinquishment paper and address all the comments. In the meantime, we want to encourage companies to contact the department if they have any relinquishment plans or ideas and how we can provide guidance or support,” Ms Copeland concluded.
DMIRS also hosted a booth at this year’s GEMG event, which provided industry with an overview of the department’s new structure and strategic intent, live demonstrations of the department’s Programme of Work-Spatial online system and its world-class resources maps and publications.
For more information or to discuss your relinquishment plans, please contact Daniel Endacott, Acting Director Operations, Environmental Compliance Branch.
