DEPARTMENT OF MINES AND ENERGY www.nt.gov.au
ADVISORY NOTE
NORTHERN TERRITORY
DEPARTMENT OF MINES AND ENERGY
REHABILITATION REPORT
STRUCTURE GUIDE FOR
EXPLORATION OPERATIONS
ADVISORY NOTE
This advisory note outlines the minimum requirements for information to be
included in the submission of a Rehabilitation Report associated with the
Application for Certificate of Closure.
Instructions for use:

An Application for Certificate of Closure is required to be submitted when all
exploration activities associated with an Authorisation have been completed
and rehabilitation has been completed successfully (Section 46 Mining
Management Act).

A Rehabilitation Report should accompany an Application for Certificate of
Closure.

A Rehabilitation Report Template is also available, if required, on the
Department’s website: www.minerals.nt.gov.au/mining.

This Advisory Note is not to be taken as an exhaustive list of the Department’s
requirements, but should be utilised by operators as a guide to the minimum
information required for assessment of closure.

Security will be released by the Department on approval of an Application for
Certificate of Closure and Rehabilitation Report.

The Rehabilitation Report should be signed off by senior staff (e.g. exploration
manager) who are authorised by the company to endorse close out of the site.
Minerals and Energy
Advisory #: CA7-013
13 June 2013
Minerals and Energy
Advisory #: CA7-013
13 June 2013
1.0 OPERATOR DETAILS
This section should provide operator details including:
 Name of operator or company (as per Australian Securities and Investment
Commission (ASIC) if applicable)
 Key contacts (i.e. senior on site personnel, exploration manager)
 Postal and street address
 Phone/fax/email contact details
2.0 PROJECT DETAILS
This section should provide details of the exploration project including:
 Project name
 Location in context of distance to nearest town/major features/roads
 Authorisation number
 Mining interest/s (i.e. titles)
 Title holder/s
 Status of titles (i.e. ceased/surrendered)
2.1 MAP OF SITE LOCATION AND LAYOUT
Provide a legible and detailed site location map and site diagram with the following
information:
 Lease boundaries (a separate map should be included for each title)
 Site access
 Tracks and grid lines
 Easements - above or below ground electrical cables, gas pipelines, water pipelines,
telephone
 Existing topographic features
 Drillhole/costean locations
 Waterways
 Buffer zones
 Rehabilitated areas
 Sensitive areas
 Cultural/heritage zones
 Hydrocarbon/hazardous chemical storage area/s
NOTE: All maps must include a scale, date of drawing, orientation (i.e. North point) and
contours.
2.2 HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT
This information should outline the programs that were proposed for each year that the
Authorisation was active and whether the program was fulfilled. This may be included in the
form of a table and should include: Type of drilling
 Number of holes proposed and number of holes actually drilled
 Maximum depth of holes
 The title that exploration activities were conducted on
 Size and number of drill pads (m2), sumps (m3), tracks (km), camp areas (ha) cleared
 Size and number of costeans and bulk sample pits excavated (m3)
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Minerals and Energy
Advisory #: CA7-013
13 June 2013
This section should also outline any previous site activities that were not accounted for under
the plan (i.e. outstanding drill holes from historical exploration).
Also indicate if groundwater was intercepted during drilling and specify the depth it was
encountered.
If any commitments were made in previous MMP’s (i.e. monitoring for weeds and threatened
species) a comment should be included on whether this commitment was met.
3.0 REHABILITATION DETAILS
A rehabilitation checklist has been included in Appendix 1 for sign off of rehabilitation works.
3.1 Rehabilitation Methods
This information should specify the operator’s method of rehabilitation of exploration
disturbances, including drill holes, drill pads, sumps, gridlines/tracks, costeans/bulk sample
pits and other related disturbances.
This should also specify rehabilitation undertaken on camps (if applicable), including removal
of infrastructure such as water bores, hydrocarbon storage areas, septic tanks, landfill
locations, etc.)
3.2 Objectives and Targets
What were your objectives and targets for rehabilitation and closure? Did they change
throughout the operation? Have closure objectives/targets been met?
3.3 Post Closure Monitoring
Has post closure monitoring been conducted to determine rehabilitation success? What
aspects were monitored? Did monitoring indicate successful rehabilitation? What corrective
actions were undertaken as a result of failed rehabilitation? If any remedial works were
required as identified during post closure monitoring, this should also be detailed here with
supporting photographs.
3.4 Remaining Liability
Any remaining disturbances/liability should be outlined here. Supporting documentation
needs to be provided as evidence of the underlying landowner’s (or other relevant
stakeholder’s) request for retention of infrastructure, such as tracks.
If you have any outstanding/remaining liabilities, how have you minimised/reduced the risk of
these becoming a burden on the underlying landowner?
Note: Should the Department consider the remaining liability to be high risk, the operator
may be advised to stabilise or rehabilitate the liability. For instance, if tracks are located in
highly erodible areas, the operator must ensure the tracks are stable and the appropriate
controls are in place prior to hand over.
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Minerals and Energy
Advisory #: CA7-013
13 June 2013
4.0 RADIATION MONITORING
For exploration programs that were targeting naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM)
or sites that are located in known radioactive areas, radiation monitoring should have been
conducted before the site was cleared for drilling and then after rehabilitation was completed.
This can be presented in a table and should include the date the reading was taken, drill hole
ID, dose rate before drilling (µSv/hr) and dose rate after rehabilitation.
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√ - or
date
comp
leted
√
√
√
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√
√
√
Is the site
revegetated?
Are there signs of
erosion?
Are there weeds?
Is there subsidence?
Rehabilitation
√
X
√
X
X
X
Is radiation within
background levels?
Is site nominated for
ongoing monitoring?
√
Is radiation within
background levels?
Rubbish removed
Drill pad
ripped/Windrows
removed
Access track ripped
Topsoil/vegetation
replaced
Sample bags/core
removed
Sumps backfilled
Hole
ID
Drill spoils
buried/backfilled
Drill holes
plugged/capped
Date
RC01
20/09/11
Minerals and Energy
Advisory #: CA7-013
13 June 2013
APPENDIX 1 – REHABILITATION CHECKLIST
Post-closure Monitoring
Sign off / Comments
√
J Smith
Minerals and Energy
Advisory #: CA7-013
13 June 2013
APPENDIX 2 – GPS COORDINATES
Include a table of GPS coordinates from all drilling programs conducted throughout the life of
Authorisation. If this is too large to include here, it can be provided electronically in an excel
spreadsheet. The table should include drill hole identification name/number, datum, drill hole
coordinates, title number, status of drill hole (i.e. rehabilitated) and any other relevant
information.
Coordinates should also be provided for tracks, costeans, camps, water bores, hydrocarbon
storage areas and landfills.
Note: Please always provide the excel spreadsheet version of the drill hole (and other
disturbances) coordinates, as the coordinates may be uploaded into a GPS for a field
verification of the rehabilitation.
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Minerals and Energy
Advisory #: CA7-013
13 June 2013
APPENDIX 3 – REHABILITATION PHOTOGRAPHS
Before and after photographs should be submitted to demonstrate rehabilitation activities
have been carried out. Photographs should:
 Be labelled with drill hole identification name/number.
 Include date photograph was taken.
 Be taken from the same angle/position (i.e. from the north east corner of the drill pad
facing south west).
 Contain an identifying feature, such as a tree in the foreground or a hill in the
background.
Photographs are not required to be submitted for every single drill hole (although it is
recommended explorers take photos at each drill hole for their records), as this is not always
practical for larger exploration programs; however, a selection of photographs that represent
the general standard of rehabilitation should be included in this report to adequately
demonstrate rehabilitation success. Photographs should also be provided of camps,
hydrocarbon storage areas, costeans and tracks, particularly those occurring in high risk
areas such as creek crossings, steep slopes or in the proximity of known erosion areas (i.e.
bull dust areas, dispersive soils, etc.)
If possible, photographs should also be taken at least one wet season following closure of
the site or after a significant rainfall to ensure vegetation is regenerating naturally and to
follow-up any failed rehabilitation. However, this is not always possible due to site access
issues.
For example:
Figure 1. RC01 after rehabilitation (20 September 2011).
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