Author: hanleyconsultants
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Critical Constraints and Critical Thresholds
April 17, 2026 Change is constant at operating mines. Sometimes change is a response to operational realities. Sometimes change results from a substantially modified mine plan. Often, these changes happen without much regard for how they impact execution of the siteโs closure plan. This may occur because the format of the closure plan isnโt useful…
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Landform Design Institute Short Course
December 5, 2025 Last week I had the pleasure of both attending and presenting at the Landform Design Instituteโs short course on Landform Design. It was great to experience the energy that can come from a room full of people with different expertise and common goals. It was fun to share in the creativity of…
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Tailings and Mine Waste 2025
November 7, 2025 This week I attended the Tailings and Mine Waste Conference in Banff. It was a great event in a beautiful setting. The best part was connecting with friends and colleagues, both old and new. My takeaways:โข ๐ง๐ฎ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐บ๐๐น๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฝ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต. Whether it was in the context of site…
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TRCR Mine Reclamation Symposium
September 30, 2025 Last week I attended the BC Technical and Research Committee on Reclamation (TRCR) Symposium. We had a tour of the Copper Mountain Mine where we saw in progress reclamation activities. There were discussions with First Nations involved in the mine on both the tour and at the conference. There was a diverse…
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Critical Relationships
September 15, 2025 Mining projects are complex. My colleauge Brenna Atnikov (of Reos Partners) and I explore ways of understanding that complexity in this article. By working with complexity, especially with stakeholder relationships, we open up other ways of advancing projects that can reduce risk and increase the likelihood of success.
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What makes for a well-defined post-mining land use?
June 17, 2025 Iโve been having a lot of conversations about mine closure lately โ with people working in closure, in the mining industry but not working in closure, and working outside the mining industry. Inevitably, the idea of knowing where youโre going is identified as foundational. A project needs to have a plan for…
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Four Principles to Shift Your Approach to Mine Closure
May 1, 2025 Thereโs a lot of great mine closure guidance out there (see list below). And itโs remarkably consistent. Iโve pulled out four broad principles that I think are a useful mental framework for approaching mine closure. They are: 1. Plan ahead and then iterate. Most closure decisions are made before the start of…