Arrival and registration 

Welcome and Introductions 

Tailings and Mine Waste 

As tailings governance shifts from voluntary best practices to mandatory regulatory compliance, WA’s mining industry faces increasing scrutiny over safety, environmental impact, and ESG accountability. This session explores the new regulatory landscape for tailings management, highlighting the move from guidelines to enforceable requirements and the implications for operators and engineers

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Delegates will gain insights into:

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• The evolving regulatory framework in Australia and WA in 2026.

• Differences between voluntary compliance programs and mandatory regulation.

• Practical strategies for risk accountability, ESG integration, and board-level oversight.

• Lessons from global tailings incidents and proactive compliance examples.

• Tools and technologies supporting monitoring, reporting, and risk mitigation.

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Attendees will leave equipped with actionable strategies to navigate compliance, safeguard communities, and enhance ESG performance in the era of mandatory tailings governance.

Western Australia is home to over 800 tailings storage facilities (TSFs), a critical part of the State’s significant mining sector.

This session will provide an in‑depth look at the current regulatory framework governing TSFs in WA in 2026, how risk‑based categorisation shapes inspection and audit requirements, and how operators are expected to demonstrate design rigour, monitoring and ongoing compliance.

It will also examine how lessons from international incidents inform local practice and reinforce WA’s focus on safety, environmental protection and continuous improvement.

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Delegates will come away with a clear understanding of how the Western Australian regulatory regime - rooted in the Mines Safety and Inspection Act 1994, Mining Act 1978 and the State’s TSF Codes of Practice and Guidelines - integrates technical design, operational oversight, consequence‑based categorisation, and audit processes to mitigate risks associated with mine waste storage.

The governance approach in WA continues to evolve based on global failures (e.g., Vale’s Brumadinho) and local historical incidents, emphasising adaptive regulatory improvement.​

Q & A  

Morning tea 

As climate change intensifies, tailings storage facilities (TSFs) are facing increasing hydrological and seismic stressors that go beyond traditional design assumptions.

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In 2026, tailings governance frameworks such as the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM) emphasise the need for risk‑informed, climate‑adaptive and resilient design covering every phase of the tailings lifecycle -from concept and construction through operation and closure.

This session will equip delegates with practical approaches to designing TSFs that can withstand extreme rainfall and flood events, incorporate seismic resilience considerations, and integrate advanced modelling and monitoring techniques that support both regulatory compliance and risk reduction.

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Delegates will explore how recent guidance and evolving practice help operators anticipate and mitigate the impact of extreme loading conditions on tailings structures, ensuring they remain safe and stable under a wide range of environmental stressors in the face of 21st‑century climate and seismic realities.​

Open for abstract submission 

This session provides a deep dive into filtered, paste, dry‑stack, and in‑pit tailings systems, showcasing how they are being deployed in modern operational environments to reduce risk, improve water efficiency, lower long‑term liabilities, and enhance closure outcomes.

Delegates will gain practical insights into selecting the right system based on geology, climate, water availability, operational constraints, and ESG objectives.

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Why this matters in 2026:
With heightened global and Australian regulatory scrutiny, increasing investor expectations, and climate-driven water stress, adopting next‑generation tailings systems is no longer optional—it is critical for resilient, safe, and sustainable mining operations.

In 2026, tailings reprocessing is emerging as a strategic pillar of sustainable mining, critical mineral supply, and circular economy practices. Mining operators are transforming legacy tailings facilities into valuable resource streams, recovering gold, silver, zinc, and other critical minerals while simultaneously reducing environmental liability and enhancing closure certainty.

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This session explores global and Australian updates, including regulatory enablers, industrial-scale recycling projects, and advanced metallurgical techniques that make reprocessing economically and technically viable

 Delegates will gain insights into policy frameworks, risk-based project evaluation, operational examples, and technical approaches that allow companies to turn historical mine waste into profitable and environmentally responsible outcomes.

Q & A with Panel  

Lunch 

Mine Closure and Legacy Landform 

Mine closure in Western Australia is evolving from a compliance exercise conducted at the end of mining operations to a strategic, integrated discipline embedded across the life of mine.

With the introduction of the Mining Development and Closure Proposal (MDCP) framework (effective 9 September 2025), proponents are now required to present a unified development and closure plan at the outset of approvals, ensuring closure objectives are integrated into mine design, environmental approvals, and tenement conditions from day 1.

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This session provides delegates with a practical guide to embedding closure into feasibility, design, and operational planning, focusing on measurable completion criteria, rehabilitation sequencing, climate- and water-resilient landforms, and financial provisioning.

Using WA operational examples, the presentation demonstrates how early integration reduces regulatory risk, cost escalation, and operational uncertainty, while delivering predictable, measurable closure outcomes aligned with investor and stakeholder expectations.​

Bauxite residue (commonly known as red mud) is a highly alkaline by-product generated during alumina refining and remains one of the aluminium industry’s most complex environmental challenges.

Globally, bauxite residue storage facilities cover approximately 17,000 hectares of land, yet less than 1% has been successfully rehabilitated and relinquished for alternative land uses. Conventional approaches to rehabilitation typically rely on expensive earthworks and containment strategies that stabilise residue but do not deliver long-term ecological outcomes.

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This presentation introduces a nature-based ecological engineering approach developed through more than 15 years of field-based, industry-partnered research across multiple climate zones. The methodology enables the systematic mineralogical, geochemical, and biophysical transformation of bio-toxic bauxite residue into a productive soil system resembling natural lateritic soils. Through carefully designed ecological processes, the treated residue develops stable soil structure, supports diverse microbial communities, and establishes self-sustaining nutrient cycling without the need for ongoing fertiliser inputs.

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The resulting eco-engineered soil can be harvested within two to three years for use in the remediation of severely degraded landscapes, or utilised in situ to construct stable landforms with functional soil profiles.

Field trials demonstrate the development of persistent vegetation cover and long-term ecosystem function, supported by ongoing natural bioweathering processes and stable interfaces between engineered soil layers and underlying residue.

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By moving beyond containment-focused approaches, this work demonstrates how nature-based design can transform bauxite residue rehabilitation, enabling more sustainable mine closure outcomes and creating new opportunities for land restoration and post-mining land use.

Achieving sustainable closure outcomes begins with landform design that is geotechnically sound, hydrologically stable and ecologically integrated. In Western Australia’s diverse climatic and topographic settings, the design of post mining landforms must anticipate long term water interactions, minimise erosion risk, and support vegetation and ecosystem development.

This session unpacks the engineering principles and design tools required to create landforms that meet both regulatory performance standards and environmental expectations.

Drawing on contemporary WA guidance and national best practice reference material, the presentation covers conceptual design, earthworks sequencing, surface drainage planning, erosion and sediment control, cover system selection, and landscape integration.

Delegates will gain clarity on how to evaluate stability criteria, match landform geometry to climatic conditions, incorporate water balance and hydrological modelling, and ensure post closure landforms align with agreed future land uses and ecosystem function.

What delegates will learn:
• Engineering principles for stable, water resilient landform design.
• How to integrate hydrology and surface drainage into closure landform planning.
• Techniques for erosion control, cover system optimisation and landscape integration.
• Practical approaches to test, monitor and validate landform performance against completion criteria.

Includes Audience Q & A  

Afternoon Break 

Post-Mining Land Use (PMLU) is now a central focus of closure planning in 2026. Regulators, investors, and communities are scrutinising not just the physical rehabilitation but how land will function after closure, whether for environmental restoration, renewable energy projects, or other economic activities.

This session explores how integrating PMLU into the life-of-mine planning phase enhances regulatory confidence, unlocks economic opportunities, and supports ESG objectives.

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Key Topics covered:

• Aligning closure plans with land use objectives (ecological, industrial, community)

• Incorporating PMLU into mine design and rehabilitation sequencing

• Strategies for multi-purpose land use after closure (renewable energy, ecological restoration, agribusiness)

• Communicating post-mining plans to regulators, investors, and communities

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Learning Outcomes:

• Understand the importance of defining and delivering post-mining land outcomes

• Develop PMLU strategies that integrate with rehabilitation and closure milestones

• Learn to balance economic, environmental, and social objectives

• Build stakeholder confidence through transparent PMLU planning

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Securing sufficient quality topsoil remains one of the most persistent challenges in progressive mine rehabilitation across Australia.

In many Queensland operations, topsoil depths vary significantly, and available volumes are often inadequate to support final landform objectives.

Additionally, both topsoil and subsoil resources may contain physical and chemical constraints that limit vegetation establishment.

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This presentation introduces a structured, evidence-based framework for developing manufactured growth media to address topsoil deficits and support achievement of the proposed Post-Mining Land Use (PMLU).

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Initiated by the Queensland Office of the Mine Rehabilitation Commissioner, the project combines insights from an industry survey of environmental professionals with an extensive literature review to identify common soil constraints and practical amelioration strategies.

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The session outlines a five-stage approach:

• Defining the PMLU and determining soil performance requirements

• Identifying and characterising available growth media resources

• Developing tailored growth media strategies, including constraint identification and amelioration design

• Trialling amendment strategies under site conditions

• Implementing ongoing monitoring and adaptive management

• The framework emphasises early material characterisation, strategic soil inventory management, and site-specific amendment design to transform subsoil and spoil into functional growth media.

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By shifting from reliance on scarce topsoil to engineered growth systems, operators can reduce closure risk, improve vegetation outcomes, and enhance regulatory confidence.

The approach provides a practical, scalable pathway to achieve resilient landforms and sustainable PMLU outcomes where natural topsoil resources are limited.

Legislation and regulatory frameworks in Australia are shifting from purely time-based closure obligations to milestone- and performance-based rehabilitation requirements.

This ensures mining companies remain responsible for the site until closure outcomes meet measurable standards, rather than simply meeting deadlines.

Using recent examples such as the Ranger mine, this session examines how extending closure timelines and linking obligations to demonstrable environmental recovery creates more accountable, resilient, and compliant mine closure programs.

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Key Topics Covered:

• Transition from time-based to milestone-based closure obligations in WA and nationally

• Establishing measurable performance indicators for rehabilitation

• Regulatory expectations for site remediation verification and long-term monitoring

• Lessons from extended closure projects (e.g., Ranger mine)​

Panel and Q & A from the audience 

Networking and depart