Strategic Planning for Permitting at Abandoned Mine Tailings

Bell, Peter (2025): Strategic Planning for Permitting at Abandoned Mine Tailings.

Abstract

This article presents a framework for evaluating the economic implications of different permitting decisions for mining exploration projects based on the legal framework for British Columbia. The article builds models for different types of exploration permits, together with budgets and types of geological information that each proposed exploration strategy would generate. One example is a mechanical trenching permit that allows 1,000 tonnes to be removed per year. If the trenching focuses on ultra-high-grade ore, then it may have a gross metal value greater than $1 million per year. The article describes how this gross metal value may be split between costs and revenues, depending on whether the material is sold as raw ore, concentrates, or refined metal. The second example is based on a mineral claim that covers 60 hectares and includes two abandoned mine tailings sites 1 kilometre apart with a mineralized fault running between them. The article describes two strategies to clean up these abandoned tailings based on an unlimited budget and a near-zero budget.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Mining, Tailings, Abandoned Mine, Environmental, Copper, Zinc, BC, Canada
• Subjects: B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C6 - Mathematical Methods ; Programming Models ; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C8 - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology ; Computer Programs; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C8 - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology ; Computer Programs > C81 - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Microeconomic Data ; Data Access; D - Microeconomics > D2 - Production and Organizations; D - Microeconomics > D7 - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E0 - General; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E0 - General > E01 - Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth ; Environmental Accounts; F - International Economics > F3 - International Finance; G - Financial Economics > G1 - General Financial Markets; G - Financial Economics > G1 - General Financial Markets > G17 - Financial Forecasting and Simulation; H - Public Economics > H1 - Structure and Scope of Government; H - Public Economics > H5 - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies; H - Public Economics > H5 - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies > H54 - Infrastructures ; Other Public Investment and Capital Stock; H - Public Economics > H5 - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies > H57 - Procurement; K - Law and Economics > K2 - Regulation and Business Law; K - Law and Economics > K2 - Regulation and Business Law > K23 - Regulated Industries and Administrative Law; L - Industrial Organization > L3 - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise > L32 - Public Enterprises ; Public-Private Enterprises; L - Industrial Organization > L5 - Regulation and Industrial Policy; L - Industrial Organization > L7 - Industry Studies: Primary Products and Construction; L - Industrial Organization > L7 - Industry Studies: Primary Products and Construction > L72 - Mining, Extraction, and Refining: Other Nonrenewable Resources; N - Economic History > N5 - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment, and Extractive Industries; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O13 - Agriculture ; Natural Resources ; Energy ; Environment ; Other Primary Products; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O2 - Development Planning and Policy; P - Economic Systems > P1 - Capitalist Systems; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q3 - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q3 - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation > Q33 - Resource Booms; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics; Y - Miscellaneous Categories > Y1 - Data: Tables and Charts

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