Town Halls provide direction for LDI
VANCOUVER, BC (Feb. 17, 2022) — Participants in the Landform Design Institute’s first two Town Hall meetings, held virtually earlier this month, identified the need for common terminology, clarity in closure practices, and cooperation with like-minded organizations.
To open each of the gatherings, LDI Chair and Founder Gord McKenna provided updates on LDI activities to date, which include the inaugural 40-hour graduate-level landform design course, a ground-breaking position paper, a video-vignette series, major essays in the Landform Design Quarterly, and a podcast series.
In the general discussion, which took place Feb. 8 (Feb. 9 in Australia), participants enthusiastically debated the point at which a mine transitions to landform design activities, with several pointing out that the opportunity to bring in landform designers is often routinely missed. Some suggested that landform designers need to be engaged earlier to ensure key milestones are met and opportunities for effective design realized. The Institute has advocated for the integration of landform design as a key part of the entire life-of-mine cycle, starting years before the mine becomes active.
Terminology was another prominent topic, particularly whether a reasonable working definition of landform design can be agreed on, and what constitutes safe closure. Some questioned how landform design fits into the broader definition of mine closure, and how it can be integrated into the regulatory framework. As more global standards are developed for tailings, dams, and reclamation, opportunities exist to refine the definition of safe closure.
Some participants suggested avenues and opportunities for collaboration with similar groups such as the Closure Planning Practitioners Association (CPPA) in Australia. Based in Perth, Western Australia, the Association engages with practitioners to develop and build professional capacity and has many areas of potential synergy with LDI. Overall, the Institute plans to broaden its focus beyond Western Canada, and will examine ways to cooperate with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM).
Watch for the upcoming Spring 2022 issue of the Quarterly for a detailed discussion of all the topics covered at the Town Halls, and information on the Institute’s continuing efforts to involve a wider range of professionals in its plans and activities as it refines its agenda for 2022 and 2023.