MINE CLOSURE & TRANSITION  

Mine closure & transition for mining and critical minerals projects

We give you an independent, integrated closure position, whether you're managing your own closure liability or assessing someone else's before you invest or lend.
WHY CLOSURE CAN'T WAIT
Closure costs are chronically underestimated, and the gap rarely surfaces until it's expensive to fix. Regulators, lenders, and auditors are all asking harder questions about it.
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45%
Financial assurance gap
Only 45% of jurisdictions require full-cost closure assurance.
(IGF, 2024)
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1-5 years
Mandatory plan refresh cycle
Most jurisdictions require reassessment every one to five years.
(Cross-jurisdictional legal review)
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5X
Cost of late planning
Deferred closure planning can inflate costs by up to five times.
(ERM, 2025)
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$72B
Total closure liability
Closure obligations at major miners nearly doubled in a decade.
(Moody's Ratings)
Engineers design the physical works. Environmental and social specialists assess impact. Accountants book the provision. We integrate all three into one closure position that holds up to regulators, boards, and auditors.
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Independent, not conflicted
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Integrated across disciplines
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Built for the regulatory cycle
HOW WE ENGAGE  

Start with the diagnostic. Scale from there.

Most engagements start with the closure readiness assessment: an independent view of where you actually stand. From there, we coordinate your closure plan, risk register, and liability model refresh cycle for as long as the mine operates, the ongoing relationship most engagements settle into. Alongside that, when your board and auditors ask for an independent number, or a live transaction requires one, we deliver it separately, either as an independent closure cost and liability review, or as closure liability due diligence inside a deal.
Closure readiness & liability assessment  
01
A structured diagnostic that shows where your closure obligations, costs, and financial assurance actually stand, benchmarked against regulatory and international good-practice standards.
Closure obligation & liability gap analysis
Governance & financial assurance review
Benchmarking against regulatory and international standards
Prioritised closure readiness roadmap
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Who it’s for
Operators with an active closure obligation, and investors or lenders assessing one, ahead of a regulator, auditor, or deal deadline.
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Outcome
A quantified readiness score, a gap and risk heatmap, a liability reconciliation, and a prioritised action plan.
Request your closure readiness assessment
Open book showing a Closure Readiness & Liability Assessment report for Saddleback Open Cut in Western Australia, assessed by Minesmart on 15 May 2024. Overall closure readiness score is 62/100, rated moderate, with a circular chart visualizing the score. Six closure readiness categories have scores ranging from 55 to 70 out of 100. The right page includes a Liability & Financial Summary with cost estimates and financial assurance details, Rehabilitation & Transition Status with progress bars, Regulatory Compliance Review shown in a pie chart with 70% compliant, and a prioritized list of closure actions and gaps with categories, impacts, and due dates from June to November 2024.
THROUGHOUT THE MINE'S LIFE

Closure Strategy, Planning & Compliance

We build the integrated closure strategy and plan itself, tying technical input, financial provisioning, and stakeholder and regulator engagement into one coherent position, then keep it current through every regulatory refresh cycle for as long as you operate.
Closure Strategy, Planning & Compliance 
02
Built once. Kept current through every refresh cycle.
Closure strategy and plan development
Regulatory compliance and plan refresh
Rehabilitation and relinquishment evidence
Stakeholder and regulator engagement
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Who it’s for
Operators who need their closure strategy and plan built and kept current through the mine's remaining life, not revisited once and left to go stale.
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Outcome
An integrated closure strategy and plan, built and kept audit-ready and regulator-ready through every review cycle, for as long as you need us.
Schedule your closure programme call
A group of six professionals sit around a conference table looking at a large screen showing a detailed 'Closure Strategy, Planning & Compliance' presentation with charts, maps, and data about closure planning, compliance, rehabilitation progress, and financial assurance.
WHEN THE QUESTION IS ASKED  

Independent Closure Liability Review

An independent test of a closure number, delivered whenever the question is asked: an independent cost and liability review when your board and auditors ask, or closure liability due diligence when a live deal requires it. Both paths use the same underlying review process. What differs is who's asking, and when.
Mine Operators
Investors & Lenders
Independent Closure Cost & Liability Review
03
An independent challenge to your existing closure cost estimate and provisioning, stress-tested against sudden-closure scenarios, so the number holds up when your board, your auditors, or a lender on existing financing ask for it.
Independent challenge to your existing cost estimate
Financial assurance and bonding adequacy check
Sudden-closure and care-and-maintenance scenario testing
Findings delivered in a board and audit-ready report
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Who it’s for
Operators who need a defensible, independently reviewed closure cost, not an unchallenged number from an old feasibility study or the same firm that will execute the works.
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Outcome
An independent opinion on your closure cost estimate and provisions, with any gaps identified and a clear remediation path, ready for your board, auditors, or regulator.
Schedule Your Strategy Call
Open laptop on desk showing a closure liability cost model with tables, pie chart, and bar graph, next to a notebook and pen, with a person writing in a binder displaying closure liability review details including financial assessment, assumptions, and bonding adequacy.
Closure Liability Due Diligence
03
Independent quantification of the closure and reclamation liability inside a live transaction or lending decision, so the deal price, the loan covenants, or the credit decision reflect the real number, not the seller's or borrower's own estimate.
Independent liability quantification for the target asset
Financial assurance and bonding adequacy review
Sudden-closure and care-and-maintenance exposure testing
Credit-committee and investment-committee ready report
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Who it’s for
Private equity and special-situations investors, project finance lenders, and export credit agencies assessing a mining asset with closure exposure, before a deal or credit decision is set.
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Outcome
A clear liability range, the funding gap against existing financial assurance, and the implications for deal price or loan covenants, delivered on a transaction timeline.
Request a Confidential Closure Liability Review
Five diverse business professionals sitting around a conference table attentively looking at a large screen displaying a Closure Liability Due Diligence report with financial figures, a mine overview image, graphs, risk summary, and recommendations.
FAQ

Questions clients ask before engaging

Closure work raises specific, practical questions before any commitment. Here are the ones we hear most often, answered directly.
Do you handle the engineering work, or just the financial and strategic side?

We handle closure strategy, cost review, financial assurance, and compliance directly. Detailed technical design, geochemistry, water treatment, and landform engineering are delivered through specialist partners we coordinate, not in-house. Our role is making sure all of it adds up to one defensible closure position.

Is this a one-time engagement, or an ongoing relationship?

Most clients start with a single engagement, either the readiness assessment or the cost and liability review, tied to a specific need: an upcoming audit, a transaction, or a board request. From there, many move into Closure Strategy, Planning & Compliance, the ongoing programme that keeps the position current between reviews instead of going stale. Neither path requires the other; you decide after the first engagement.

Can we engage the readiness assessment on its own?

Yes. The readiness assessment stands on its own and is where most clients start. If it surfaces gaps in your cost estimate or provisioning, we can scope an independent cost and liability review as a separate, second engagement. There is no bundled programme you are committing to upfront.

We already have a closure cost estimate. What does Minesmart add?

Existing estimates, especially those built early or by the same team managing the mine plan, often understate real costs, since there's a natural incentive to keep numbers that support the project's economics. We independently review and challenge the model so it holds up to outside scrutiny.

How do you maintain independence, given the incentive to underestimate closure costs?

We're not the engineering firm designing the works, or the team whose plan needs the number to look good. Our assessment holds up whether it's a regulator, an auditor, or your own board checking it, not built to flatter one outcome.

We're evaluating an acquisition or a loan against a mine with closure exposure. Can you assess it before we close?

Yes. This is exactly what our closure liability due diligence service is built for. We can turn around an independent liability assessment on a transaction timeline, so the deal price or the loan terms reflect the real closure exposure rather than the seller's or borrower's own number.

Is Minesmart the right fit for our situation?

If you're an operator managing an active closure obligation, an investor or lender assessing one, or a board or audit committee that needs an independent view of a closure number, yes. If you need engineering design, construction oversight, or on-site execution, we're not the right fit for that piece of the work, and we'll tell you so directly and point you to the right partner.

Get Started

Ready to find out
where you actually stand?

Start with an independent view of your closure position, whatever stage you're at.
We give you an independent, integrated closure position, whether you're managing your own closure liability or assessing someone else's before you invest or lend.
Schedule Your Strategy Call
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