Getting Closure

In the final episode of the third season of Getting Closure, host Mike O’Kane explores some of the less conventional options for putting a worked-out mine to good use. His guest is Peter Whitbread-Abrutat, co-author of 102 Things to Do With a Hole in the Ground and a leading proponent of progressive and sustainable mine closure.Illustrating his argument with examples from around the world, Peter makes the point that the solution to any mine-closure problem is probably already out there, somewhere — you just have to know where to look. Since 2014, Peter has been the director of Future Terrains, a team of reclamation specialists and landscape architects tasked with reclaiming degraded lands by enhancing environmental and social performance and promoting landscape restoration.Peter and Mike also talk about the lessons from the Eden Project, which, with Peter’s scientific guidance, turned what used to be a kaolin clay pit into the world’s largest indoor rainforest. ResourcesLandform Design InstituteFuture TerrainsThe Eden Project102 Things to Do With a Hole in the Ground

For those listeners well versed in the mandate of the LDI, many of the ideas expressed in the latest episode of Getting Closure will sound familiar. Guest Guy Boggs is the chief executive officer of the Cooperative Research Centre for Transformations in Mining Economies (CRC TIME) in Perth, Australia, an organization that — like the LDI — is dedicated to examining and helping transform what happens economically, socially, culturally, and environmentally after mining ends. Ideally, all for the better. In essence, Boggs’ centre is about “changing the way we think about the closure process.” It's more evidence of just how much the industry is evolving in sync with the LDI’s mission of making landform design routine in mining worldwide. Among the CRC TIME’s core discoveries in its research on responsible closure planning is the need to identify a champion. As Boggs tells host Mike O’Kane, sometimes that champion can come from unexpected places, like a group of Italian scientists looking for a place to house an underground dark matter research laboratory. Resources Landform Design Institute CRC TIME Stawell Dark Matter lab

Host Mike O’Kane explores principles 9, 10, 11, and 12 with Institute Founder Gord McKenna, concluding the three-episode discussion of all 12 landform design principles. The pair explain why it’s important to follow every drop of water through the landscape (Principle 9), reclaim a mine progressively (Principle 10), plan for sustainable closure (Principle 11), and share the lessons of both failure and success (Principle 12). In emphasizing the importance of providing the best possible landform design advice to practitioners, Mike conjures one of the most famous quotes by Oscar Wilde: “I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.” The implication of the phrase is that wisdom finds its true value when shared with others, a practice Mike observes is a key objective in speaking with the learned guests who come on the “Getting Closure” podcast.

In the first episode of Season 3 of Getting Closure,” host Mike O’Kane sits down with LDI founder and chair, Gord McKenna, to characterize the first four principles of landform design. O’Kane and McKenna describe what it means to “keep the land in mind” and how to create a vision for reclaimed land, which depends heavily on establishing trust between the mine, shareholders, and Indigenous peoples. They discuss next how to establish “governance” and assembling a multi-disciplinary team with a lead designer. The conversation turns next to the development of the Design Basis Memorandum, guidance for which the LDI will be releasing this fall. A DBM sets out the vision for a particular project, large or small, and develops the goals, objectives, and design criteria to achieve that vision. Last, they talk about working collaboratively and embracing co-reclamation. Landscapes must be built with users, not for them.

We all know how gravity works … inherently, we know which way is up. We are also all well versed in our world’s push for renewable energy — so-called green energy. And there is growing discssion in our industry on its capacity to achieve our closure objectives and transform our mined land into a future, or post mining land use, which brings value to rightsholders, stakeholders, and the communities in and around our mine sites. Our guest for this episode ties these three aspects together. Mark Swinnerton of Green Gravity discuss his insights on alternative land use potential for closed and legacy mines, but also planning for and creating renewable energy throughout the mine life cycle as part of closure planning. Mark’s perspective in this space is wide and varied as a result of the breadth of his incredible experience working in the mining industry for a large mining house, and really understanding how we influence investment in our industry and advance projects.

Season 2 of Getting Closure continues to explore the principles and people behind responsible mine closure and reclamation, beginning with an interview with a giant in the field, Dr. Andy Robertson. Andy is the "R" in SRK consulting, the creator of the first database for ore-deposit modelling and open-pit mine software that ran on personal computers, and InfoMine, one of the first attempts to spread mining information through what was then a very early version of the internet. Since 1994, he’s run Robertson Geoconsultants, which specializes in tailings and waste rock stability and geochemistry. No matter where you go in this business, it’s impossible not run into his legacy, and podcast host Mike O’Kane is no exception

In Episode 2, Mike O'Kane interviews Mark Logsdon for the second episode of Getting Closure. Mark specializes in geochemistry and mineralogy, and has worked on some 250 mining projects during a career spanning almost 50 years. Geology, mentorship, the importance of visiting as many mines as possible, and even playing hockey against Ken Dryden, figured prominently in the discussion. Mark emphasizes the need to develop communities of practitioners with varying expertise to solve problems together.