Standards Development: ISO International meeting of TC82 Mining/SC7 Sustainable Mining and Mine Closure Update No 12 to AusIMM members

The international meetings of ISO TC82, including ISO TC82 SC7 ‘Sustainable Mining and Mine Closure’, were held in Shanghai, China, 22-25 September. Tania Laurençont was Head of Delegation for Standards Australia, Dr Artem Golev participated in person while I participated virtually along with Dr Sandy Worden, Peter Waggitt and Dr Karin Fogarty.

• Working Group (WG) 5 ‘Underground mine tailings backfill’ led by Lijie Guo, China, commenced its activities by holding its first meeting on 22 September 2025.
• WG4 ‘Social aspects’ led by Tania Laurençont, held its 8th meeting as part of the international meeting. This group has significantly advanced the first draft of this standard including refinement of its table of contents and development of half of its clauses.
• WG6 ‘Finding value in mining wastes’ led by Artem Golev, held its first meeting as part of the international meeting. The content of this standard will include a standardised method for determining economic value of, or in, mining wastes (waste rock, tailings etc.), to inform potential secondary sources that could be available for reuse or recovery.
• WG1 led by Darren Murphy did not need to meet as part of the international meeting as it is approaching completion of the revision of the existing Vocabulary for mine reclamation and closure standard ISO 20305:2020.
• Task Force (TF) 7 ‘Mine wastewater monitoring and assessment’ led by Dr Jusong Shi, China, provided an update.
• During the last year, there have been ballots calling for additional experts to support the work of WGs; as a result, they have expanded their numbers and country coverage.
• The USA, through the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), has rejoined SC7 as a participating member, after an absence of four years.
• The SC7 plenary meeting – the umbrella sub-committee under which WGs and Task Forces sit – was held on the 24 September. This plenary provides an opportunity for WGs and TFs to provide updates along with liaison organisations to SC7. This included the Environmental Coalition on Standards (ECOS), who were present in Shanghai.
• China is leading a number of mineral specific Technical Committees (TCs), such as TC 333 ‘Lithium’, and several updates were presented for joint projects between these TCs and TC82 (there are a lot!)
• Several new work item proposals (NWIPs) were presented: on ‘managing solid wastes’, ‘maintenance of waste dumps’ and ‘utilising mined underground space’. The merits of each were discussed as well as the overlaps with existing work underway. The goal being to integrate rather than separate related aspects requiring management.
• The importance of updating the strategic plan for SC7 was acknowledged. The current plan is outdated - having a ‘mine closure and reclamation’ focus from its early beginnings and broader scope since 2023. TF3 is tasked with updating the Strategic Plan, however, it has been unable to progress due to the need for TC82 Mining to update its strategic plan. The sad passing of their chair in 2024 set back this process.
• The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) continues to provide secretariat support to SC7.
• The Chair of SC7 Christophe Didier, Director from the French Geological Survey (BGRM) and representing AFNOR (French national standards body), stepped down after 9 years in this role.
• The TC82 Mining Plenary, held on 25 September, discussed all matters requiring resolution for SC8 'Automated and autonomous mining equipment' and SC7 ‘Sustainable Mining and Mine closure’. During this meeting, a new chair, Al Shpyth from Canada, was appointed. This is good news for strategic planning that the appointment has been finalised.

Meanwhile, Standards Australia is undergoing an independent review of the end-to-end standards development process to strengthen their processes and to support voluntary experts more effectively, particularly as international standards development becomes more prominent than local Australian standards development. Without volunteer experts there would be no standards.

This update serves also as a shout out to those who give their time and expertise freely often after hours to join with international experts globally in mutually compatible time zones. The Working Groups are where standards develop. Anyone interested in joining a Standards Committee can contact AusIMM General Manager, Professional Standards Narelle Wolfe FAusIMM via policy@ausimm.com. Thanks to my Standards Australia representative colleagues who participated and helped contribute to this update.

Photo courtesy of A. Golev from one of the Working Group meetings in Shanghai.