The mining industry's contribution to regional economies is undeniable. At the same time, mining often introduces environmental and social impacts directly felt by surrounding communities. In addition to being a compliance obligation, mine rehabilitation is carried out to minimise such impacts and, more recently, seen as a way to demonstrate a mining company’s social performance. It is widely accepted that community engagement on mine rehabilitation outcomes is needed to ensure acceptance and successful transition to post-mining land uses (PMLU) (Everingham et al., 2018; Owen and Kemp, 2018). Whilst the community's role in a mine operation's rehabilitation and closure outcomes is acknowledged, in New South Wales there appears to be little research on community perceptions towards mine rehabilitation.
In Australia, there is a perception that mining negatively affects the environment and local communities (Moffat et al., 2017). Awareness and concern held by the community about the environment, as well as socio-economic interests in what happens after mining, has arguably never been greater. Consequently, mine site rehabilitation is required to be ever more effective and have outcomes in keeping with the community's aims and aspirations. Current public expectations are that mine sites will be rehabilitated (Lamb et al., 2015); that it is important to do so (Moffat et al., 2017); and that in situ mine site rehabilitation is preferred over compensatory biodiversity offset programs (Burton et al., 2012).
Communities are typically engaged about mine rehabilitation and closure aspects throughout the mine life via company community engagement programs and the regulatory approval process. Despite this level of community engagement, negotiations between mining companies and regulators ultimately agree on the condition of mine closure and rehabilitation. Therefore, whilst it is recognised that community plays a role in a mine operation’s rehabilitation and closure outcomes, there is limited information about the public’s preferences towards mine site rehabilitation and PMLU. We present a study to address this knowledge gap for a case study in regional NSW.