SC7 Mine closure and reclamation management: ISO standard development - Update No 4 to AusIMM members 2019
Stages of development of ISO standards[1]
From the proposal stage (New work item proposal) a ballot of member nations decides whether to accept the proposal. Once accepted, a standard progresses through the followings ISO gateways:
- Working draft (WD)
- Committee draft (CD)
- Draft International Standard (DIS)
- Final International Standard (FIS)
- ISO standard publication
Progress on two standards
The Working Group 1 (WG1) ‘Mine closure and reclamation management terminology’ draft standard has progressed through the CD stage and is heading toward a target of February 2020 for publication. It is recognised that this standard will be added to over time, as other standards in the SC7 family of standards are developed. Currently the draft standard is structured around:
- mine closure: status, phase, activity, risks and treatments;
- mine: features and materials; and
- general terms.
The Working Group 2 (WG2) ‘Mine closure and reclamation management planning’ draft standard has progressed through the CD stage. As the draft standard developed over time it became a very long and detailed document. The Australian mirror committee has been working with the Canadian writing team to evaluate alternative mechanisms to provide both the high level strategic framework as well as key detail in preparation for the next stage of review, the DIS.
Further information on the progress of WG1 and WG2 can be found in a recently presented conference paper[2]
Approval of proposal for ‘Abandoned mine Management’ standard to be developed and a new Working Group is formed
During the SC7 meeting in Shanghai in October 2018, a new task force was formed to develop the proposal (NWIP) for an ‘Abandoned mines management’ standard. Corinne Unger was appointed to coordinate this taskforce with volunteers from Australia, Malawi, Tanzania, Canada, France and South Korea. This NWIP was completed earlier in 2019 and has now been approved by ballot. A new working group WG3, has been formed with Corinne Unger as Project Lead and Convenor. Additional participants in WG3 have been nominated through this ballot process. The first face-to- face meeting of WG3 is likely to be in France in early 2020.
[1] International Organization for Standardization https://www.iso.org/committee/5052041.html
[2] Murphy, D P, Nahir M and Didier C (2019) An update on the development of mine closure and reclamation standards by the International Organization for Standardization, Mine Closure 2019 13th International Conference on Mine Closure, Perth available here: https://papers.acg.uwa.edu.au/p/1915_61_Murphy/