Hostname: page-component-857557d7f7-wf4rb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-11-29T18:42:17.623Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
Accepted manuscript

Post Mining Land Use and the Diversification Lease: Land Tenure Designed to Facilitate the Repurposing of Mine Sites

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2025

Natalie Brown*
Affiliation:
University of Western Australia, Perth, Cooperative Research Centre Transformations in Mining Economies (CRC TiME).
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

A contemporary and innovative feature of post-mining land use (‘PMLU’) planning is the repurposing of sites such as mine-voids to alternative purposes such as pumped hydro, irrigated agriculture, renewable energy, or recreation and tourism. Repurposing can facilitate the transition of the region’s economy post-mining and contribute to rehabilitation for sites that cannot be returned to the pre-mining land use. A key issue inhibiting a third-party engaging in repurposing projects is the underlying tenure and the attached liability for residual and unforeseen risks. This article scopes out the tenure issue and considers whether introducing a new form of tenure in Western Australia could facilitate PMLU transitions and mitigate the frequent problem of sites languishing under care and maintenance.

Information

Type
Impact Paper
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press