Arrival 

Mines and Environment Welcome 

Queensland's new State Strategic Projects framework aims to accelerate the development of critical minerals and other projects of State significance through streamlined approval pathways and improved investment certainty.

As project timelines shorten, questions are emerging around how rehabilitation obligations, closure planning, residual risk management and environmental accountability will be incorporated into the next generation of mining developments.

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This session examines the intersection of regulatory reform, project approvals and long-term environmental performance.

Industry leaders, regulators and closure specialists will discuss how Queensland can achieve both rapid resource development and sustainable post-mining outcomes, ensuring that accelerated approvals do not create future rehabilitation liabilities.

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Key Discussion Areas

• Queensland's State Strategic Projects reforms and implications for mining

• Integrating closure planning into accelerated project approvals

• Critical minerals, ESG expectations and long-term environmental stewardship

• Residual risk management and post-closure accountability

• Water, biodiversity and landform considerations under fast-tracked developments

• Maintaining community trust while improving investment certainty

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As mine closure expectations continue to evolve, mining jurisdictions around the world are developing different approaches to rehabilitation, financial assurance, residual risk management, water stewardship and mine relinquishment.

While the overarching goal remains the same - delivering safe, stable and sustainable post-mining outcomes -regulatory frameworks are increasingly shaped by region-specific risks including flooding, seismic activity, acid mine drainage and tailings dam failures.

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This session explores a comparative analysis of mine closure and rehabilitation frameworks in Queensland, Chile and Minas Gerais (Brazil), highlighting how each jurisdiction has developed specialised expertise in response to its unique environmental, social and operational challenges.

Discussions will examine Queensland's leadership in progressive rehabilitation and financial provisioning, Chile's risk-based approach to long-term physical and chemical stability, and Brazil's emerging best practices in tailings dam decommissioning and post-closure safety.

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Attendees will gain insights into international trends, regulatory innovation and opportunities to strengthen closure outcomes through the adoption of global leading practices.

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Key Discussion Areas

• Progressive rehabilitation and closure planning frameworks

• Financial assurance, residual risk and closure funding models

• Tailings dam decommissioning and post-closure management

• Managing flood risk, seismic risk and climate-related closure challenges

• Water stewardship, acid mine drainage and long-term environmental performance

• Mine relinquishment pathways and regulatory success factors

• Building positive post-mining legacies through international best practice​

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​Despite significant advances in mine closure regulation and rehabilitation planning, very few mining operations globally have achieved full regulatory relinquishment.

Comparative research from Queensland, Chile and Minas Gerais reveals that while closure frameworks have matured considerably, most systems remain largely untested on large, complex mining operations with significant environmental and social legacies.

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This session examines why successful mine relinquishment remains elusive across major mining jurisdictions and what lessons can be drawn from the limited number of certified closures achieved to date.

Industry leaders, regulators and closure practitioners will discuss the challenges of demonstrating long-term landform stability, water quality performance, post-mining land use success and residual risk management, while exploring the technical, financial and governance frameworks needed to achieve truly sustainable mine closure outcomes.

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Key Discussion Areas

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• Why mine relinquishment remains rare globally

• Closure success versus regulatory compliance

• Long-term liabilities and residual risk management

• Demonstrating stable landforms and post-mining land use outcomes

• Water quality, pit lakes and post-closure monitoring requirements

• International case studies from Queensland, Chile and Brazil

• Defining and measuring closure success in modern mining

Plenary Panel, Q & A  

Morning Tea 

Queensland’s recent regulatory reforms for critical minerals and State Strategic Projects mark a significant shift in environmental compliance expectations, particularly in relation to groundwater protection.

Under the new Guideline – General conditions for critical minerals projects, traditional risk-based contamination frameworks are being replaced with an absolute prohibition on groundwater contamination, fundamentally changing how mining projects must be designed, operated and closed.

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This policy shift introduces a stricter compliance environment where any measurable groundwater contamination may trigger expanded liability exposure, including potential criminal enforcement mechanisms. For the mining sector, this represents a material departure from legacy closure approaches that relied on dilution modelling, attenuation zones, and managed exceedance thresholds.

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The implications extend across the full mine life cycle - from feasibility and environmental approvals through to closure planning and relinquishment. Operators must now demonstrate near-zero risk pathways for contaminant migration, particularly in relation to pit lakes, tailings facilities, waste rock dumps and legacy voids.

This raises the bar for predictive hydrogeological modelling, containment engineering, progressive rehabilitation and post-closure monitoring systems.

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For closure practitioners, the change also intensifies scrutiny on residual risk assumptions and long-term liability transfer to the State, requiring more conservative design standards and earlier integration of closure outcomes into operational planning.

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Key Discussion Areas

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• Shift from risk-based groundwater management to absolute prohibition standards

• Implications for mine closure design, tailings storage and void management

• Expanded liability exposure and potential criminal compliance triggers

• Redesigning hydrogeological models under zero-contamination expectations

• Impacts on Progressive Rehabilitation and Closure (PRC) planning frameworks

• Long-term monitoring, stewardship obligations and relinquishment barriers

• Regulatory alignment challenges between fast-tracked approvals and environmental protection obligations

As mine closure frameworks evolve, increasing attention is being given to whether certain mine-derived water assets -such as pit lakes, retention dams, and water storage structures—can be retained and repurposed rather than fully decommissioned at closure. In water-stressed and climate-variable regions such as Queensland, these assets may present opportunities for regional water supply, agricultural use, flood mitigation, or environmental enhancement.

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This session explores the emerging concept of “surrendering” mine water assets into post-mining use, where infrastructure is formally transferred to subsequent landholders, local authorities, or regional water systems.

It examines the regulatory, technical, and liability challenges involved in converting mine water infrastructure into long-term public or third-party assets, including questions of structural safety, water quality stability, contamination risk, and extreme rainfall resilience.

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The discussion will also address the governance gap between mine closure obligations and long-term asset stewardship, highlighting the need for clear handover criteria, funding mechanisms for ongoing monitoring, and legal frameworks that define responsibility beyond relinquishment. Case-based insights will be used to explore when water retention structures can transition from mining liabilities into productive regional water assets, and when decommissioning remains the safer option.

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Key Discussion Areas

• Transitioning mine water infrastructure from closure liability to regional asset

• Pit lakes, retention dams and post-mining water reuse opportunities

• Regulatory requirements for asset handover and relinquishment approval

• Long-term ownership, liability transfer and governance frameworks

• Water quality, contamination risk and climate resilience considerations

• Integrating mine closure planning with regional water and land-use strategies

• Defining “safe and stable” criteria for retained mine water systems​

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Dredge Robotics 

Panel and Audience Q & A  

Lunch 

As Queensland experiences increasingly variable rainfall patterns, intense storm events and prolonged wet seasons, mine-impacted water systems are facing new and evolving challenges. Legacy mine voids, pit lakes, tailings storage facilities and acid-generating waste rock landforms are being exposed to hydrological conditions that were not anticipated in historical closure designs.

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This session examines how extreme rainfall events can influence acid and metalliferous drainage (AMD), contaminant mobilisation, groundwater interactions and downstream water quality outcomes throughout the mine life cycle and into post-closure. Discussion will explore emerging approaches to pit lake management, predictive water quality modelling, contaminant transport assessment, catchment-scale risk management and adaptive closure strategies designed to withstand future climate variability.

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Attendees will gain insights into regulatory expectations, monitoring technologies, rehabilitation design considerations and practical case studies from Queensland mining operations working to reduce long-term environmental liabilities while maintaining water quality performance and closure objectives.

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Key Discussion Areas:

• Acid and metalliferous drainage (AMD) management in a changing climate

• Pit lake evolution, water quality prediction and closure planning

• Extreme rainfall impacts on contaminant mobilisation and transport pathways

• Groundwater and surface water interactions across rehabilitated mine sites

• Monitoring, modelling and early-warning systems for water quality risk

• Regulatory expectations and long-term stewardship of mine-impacted water systems

• Building climate-resilient water management frameworks for closure success

As Queensland’s mining sector progresses deeper into complex closure planning and legacy site management, water treatment has shifted from short-term operational support to a long-term environmental and liability control mechanism.

This session explores the next generation of water treatment technologies being deployed across active and closed mine sites, with a focus on adaptability to changing water chemistry, climate stressors, and closure-phase constraints.

Key technologies under discussion include high-performance membrane systems, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), ion exchange platforms, and hybrid modular treatment plants designed for remote and decommissioning environments.

The session also examines passive and semi-passive systems increasingly used in closure landscapes where long-term energy input and operational oversight must be minimised.

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Queensland-specific challenges such as acid and metalliferous drainage (AMD), high-salinity mine waters, pit lake evolution, and groundwater rebound systems are central to the discussion.

A key theme is how treatment systems can be integrated into progressive rehabilitation strategies and post-mining land uses, including potential beneficial reuse pathways for treated water.

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Research and implementation challenges include system scalability, treatment reliability under variable inflows, residual waste management (brines and sludges), and lifecycle cost constraints during closure transition.

The session highlights the growing need for integrated design approaches that combine geochemistry, hydrology, engineering, and regulatory alignment to achieve long-term closure success.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have become a critical emerging contaminant issue for mining and closure environments in Queensland, particularly where historical use of firefighting foams, industrial inputs, or legacy infrastructure has occurred. As regulatory expectations tighten, PFAS is increasingly being incorporated into mine closure risk assessments, groundwater monitoring programs, and long-term liability planning.

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This session provides a focused examination of PFAS behaviour in mining-impacted environments, including mobility in groundwater systems, persistence in tailings and soil matrices, and challenges associated with detection at ultra-trace levels. It explores how PFAS compounds interact with complex mine water chemistries, often reducing treatment efficiency and complicating standard water management approaches.

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A major focus is on emerging PFAS treatment technologies, including granular activated carbon (GAC), ion exchange resins, high-pressure membranes, and novel adsorptive media specifically engineered for short- and long-chain PFAS compounds.

The session also evaluates destructive technologies such as electrochemical oxidation, plasma treatment, and supercritical water oxidation, with an emphasis on scalability and suitability for remote mine sites.

Queensland’s evolving regulatory environment is also examined, including increasing alignment with precautionary risk-based thresholds and expectations for long-term containment or destruction rather than dilution-based management strategies.

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Key research and industry challenges include managing PFAS in mixed contaminant streams (e.g., salinity, hydrocarbons, AMD), treatment residual disposal, long-term monitoring uncertainty, and the cost implications of full-lifecycle PFAS remediation in closure scenarios.

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The session concludes by positioning PFAS management as a defining issue for next-generation mine closure planning, requiring integration across environmental science, engineering design, and regulatory frameworks.

Panel Session, Audience Engagement 

Afternoon tea 

Queensland’s mining hubs, including North West Queensland and coastal industrial regions such as Townsville, are operating under increasingly stringent water management expectations, where water treatment is no longer a supporting function but a core operational and closure-critical system.

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This session examines the current state of site water purification across Queensland mining operations, where tailings water treatment and process water recycling are now standard practice rather than optional enhancements.

Most sites are transitioning toward high-recycle or near-closed-loop water circuits to reduce freshwater demand, improve operational efficiency, and meet strict environmental authority conditions governing discharge quality and frequency.

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The discussion will explore the widespread deployment of high-rate clarification and filtration systems as primary compliance control technologies, alongside targeted use of advanced treatment processes such as ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) for high-risk, variable, or reuse-intended water streams.

These technologies are increasingly integrated into broader site water balances rather than treated as standalone treatment units.

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A key focus is the regulatory environment in Queensland, where environmental approvals require tightly controlled water releases and robust monitoring of water quality parameters. This regulatory pressure is a major driver behind the shift from discharge-based water management toward reuse-oriented system design across both operating and legacy mine sites.

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The session also addresses closure-phase integration, where passive treatment systems such as constructed wetlands and low-maintenance polishing systems are being incorporated into long-term rehabilitation strategies where site conditions allow.

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Recent operational practice across Queensland, including regulated water management within major basins such as the Fitzroy catchment, highlights the growing emphasis on controlled, defensible, and highly engineered water release strategies rather than episodic or reactive discharge approaches.

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Overall, the session provides a practical overview of how Queensland mining operations are evolving toward integrated, compliance-led, and closure-ready water management systems that align operational efficiency with long-term environmental responsibility.

Remote mining operations across Queensland rely on highly decentralised water supply systems to ensure continuous, safe, and compliant water availability for workforce camps and essential site infrastructure. In many inland and coastal mining regions, access to potable water is limited or variable, making modular treatment systems a critical component of operational resilience.

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This session explores the deployment of containerised reverse osmosis (RO) desalination and brackish water treatment systems as standard infrastructure in remote mining environments. These systems are designed for rapid deployment, flexible capacity scaling, and autonomous operation, enabling sites to treat groundwater, brackish aquifers, or seawater into potable and industrial-grade water.

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Key discussion areas include system design and integration challenges such as pre-treatment requirements, membrane fouling control, energy efficiency, and brine disposal management. The session also examines how these systems are engineered to perform under Queensland’s variable climatic conditions, where drought, extreme heat, and episodic rainfall can significantly impact water availability and quality.

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A further focus is the role of modular desalination systems in supporting operational continuity and workforce health and safety requirements, particularly in remote camps where alternative water supply options are limited. Increasingly, these systems are also being incorporated into broader site water strategies, providing redundancy, emergency supply capability, and transitional support during closure planning phases.

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The session highlights how modular RO and brackish water treatment technologies have become a foundational element of remote mining infrastructure in Queensland, supporting both operational reliability and long-term water security in geographically isolated and environmentally constrained settings.

Audience engagement 

Close