A guide to leading practice sustainable development in mining

1.0 INTRODUCTION
The Purpose and Layout of this Guide
Figure 1.1 – Progressive rehabilitation of the box cut (background) during
portal construction at Newcrest’s Kencana mine, Indonesia.
The Leading Practice Sustainable Development Program in Mining initiative was a
collaborative effort launched in 2006 by the Australian government and the mining
industry. The handbooks built on the then state-of-the-art knowledge and case
studies contained in the original Best Practice Environmental Management in Mining
(BP) series of booklets launched in 1995. Although in some areas the content is
dated, the BP series still provides excellent supplementary and background reading
to the Leading Practice series.
The Leading Practice Program aimed to identify the key issues affecting sustainable
development in the mining industry and provide information and case studies to
enable a more sustainable basis for its operations. The output of the Program was
a series of handbooks relevant to all stages of a mine’s life—exploration, feasibility,
design, construction, operation, closure and rehabilitation as illustrated in Figure 1.2.
EVALUATING PERFORMANCE: MONITORING AND AUDITING
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