Aiming at deriving good practice recommendations for mine closure, this paper reviews the case of a kaolin mine whose production ceased more than ten years ago, but as yet didn't meet its completion criteria. Document review, interviews and site visits showed that: (i) rework was needed to satisfactorily implement land rehabilitation measures such as contouring, slope stabilization, erosion and sediment control and revegetation; (ii) underground water quality was affected during mine operation, causing the mine to be included in the State contaminated sites register. Despite being a small operation, the closure of this mine illustrates a number of problems faced by mining companies in planning and implementing mine closure measures: (1) lack of clear land rehabilitation objectives; (2) the need to manage liabilities related to contaminated sites; (3) loss of organizational memory. The research found that good practices, generally recommended in guidebooks, were not adopted by the company. The main lesson from this relatively simple case - a small mine situated near a dynamic and expanding urban area - are that decommissioning and closure cannot be a makeshift add-on to mine management; these are not trivial activities and require careful planning and integration with mine planning itself.
mine closure; land rehabilitation; contaminated sites
