A year of accomplishment
announces the Institute
VANCOUVER, BC (Sept. 30, 2020) — Celebrating its one-year anniversary today, the Landform Design Institute (LDI) continues to take great strides forward, expanding its membership, releasing a new podcast series, and preparing a groundbreaking new position paper on landform design.These initiatives add to several major accomplishments over the Institute’s first 12 months, which include establishing our Board and Technical Advisory Panel (TAP), staging the inaugural five-day landform design course in Edmonton, producing a six-part lecture series on landform design, laying the groundwork for a case history symposium in 2022, and identifying a set of operational and technical “gaps” that urgently require addressing to reshape mine reclamation worldwide.
Calling all LDI members
The LDI membership drive is off to a great start. In just three weeks, the LDI has added many individual members, and has already signed up three new corporate members. The Institute greatly appreciates the support these members are showing for its mandate to make landform design routine worldwide by 2030. Building the membership is integral to the Institute’s objective of becoming a “community of practitioners” working together to build truly sustainable mining landscapes. For those who haven’t joined and believe in this cause, your support is needed. Please join the Institute today by signing up.
discusses the Institute at the University of Minnesota.
Membership connects you with others in similar professions around the world. It gives you access to an ever-expanding landform design library, the Quarterly newsletter (the fall 2020 issue comes out next week), tools and checklists, introductory landform design lectures, and a case history database. It allows you to actively contribute to the LDI mandate. Members get a 20% discount on landform design courses (the inaugural course was held with great success in December 2019) and the upcoming case history symposium. You will receive regular alerts about upcoming events and publications.
‘Getting Closure’ podcast now available by subscription
The LDI is pleased to announce that its new podcast series is now available on major platforms. Listeners can find it and subscribe by searching for “Getting Closure” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Anchor. In the first episode, LDI founder Gord McKenna speaks with Board member and Advisory Panel chair Mike O’Kane on the origins, goals, and plans of the Institute. They call on their own professional histories, and exchange several stories on approaches to landform design, to describe the urgency in supporting the Institute’s new approach to more responsible and sustainable mining and reclamation.
In the second episode, Mike interviews Mark Logsdon, who specializes in geochemistry and mineralogy and has worked on some 250 mining projects over a career spanning almost 50 years. Mark emphasized the importance of visiting as many mines as possible and the need to develop communities of practitioners with varying expertise to solve problems together.
In the third edition, Mike interviews Corinne Unger, an Australia-based specialist in mine rehabilitation and closure planning who has undertaken research on abandoned mines and post-mining land use around the world. They discussed the importance of good mentors, navigating an industry where women are usually in the minority, and trying to convince mines and regulators to incorporate a social dimension into mine planning.
Position Paper coming soon
In mid-November, the Institute will release a position paper that will describe the state of practice in the industry, set out the “gaps” that require addressing, and lay out the LDI vision for the future. LDI members will be the first to see this groundbreaking paper. It will include the results of consultations with mine practitioners and industry leaders from around the world. The position paper will call for the global mining community to rally around a set of common goals in support of landform design and responsible mining, and will identify areas of potential synergy with related international initiatives.
A landmark document, the position paper will represent a major step forward for the Institute, which was launched at the 42nd British Columbia Mine Reclamation Symposium in Kimberley, BC. Upon its founding, the Institute was heralded as a much needed and well-overdue initiative. “Landscape design in support of mine closure is a highly interdisciplinary undertaking. As a result, its evolution has been challenging,” said Norbert Morgenstern, a Distinguished Professor (Emeritus) of Civil Engineering at the University of Alberta. “The formation of the Landform Design Institute promises to overcome these challenges and strengthen the role of landform design in sustainable closure of mine sites. The Institute merits our support.”
Stay in touch
More details on the benefits of each level of membership are available here. If you aren’t ready to join, stay in touch by joining our mailing list, connecting with us on LinkedIn, and following our activities through our News page and on X (Twitter).