Recent mine closures, especially across Northern Australia, have highlighted a skills gap in the current AHC qualifications for adequately training people to work effectively to rehabilitate closed mines. Generally, mining companies are required by legislation, regulation or operating/licensing agreements to rehabilitate the land they use after mine closure, ideally doing so progressively during the lifecycle of the mine site.

Large mining companies engage environmental and rehabilitation specialists and advisors, which may be supervised by university educated environmental engineers. However, the skills needed by field workers performing the rehabilitation tasks are best supported through the VET system, as they build on skills already contained within it. This includes dozer seeding, drainage work, dam cleaning, sediment fencing, and irrigation supply, as well as ongoing monitoring, remediation and reporting services that are necessary as part of state and federal regulations.

This project is an opportunity for determining best practices for current and future mine site rehabilitation in Australia in collaboration with multiple stakeholders.

The Australian Industry Skills Committee (AISC) approved this project, out of the Annual Update IRC Skills Forecast and Proposed Schedule of Work 2020.

Skills Impact and the Amenity Horticulture, Landscaping, Conservation and Land Management Industry Reference Committee (IRC) will oversee this project, consistent with the 2012 Standards for Training Package Development.

Download Project Proposal (see page 74)

Conserving and managing Australia’s many unique ecosystems requires specialist skill and knowledge. While these skills are generally applicable to a range of geographically diverse natural locations, additional expertise is required to rehabilitate land after it has been used for mining. With over 350 operating mines and mineral deposits across Australia, it is vital that the skills to restore mined land to a safe, stable environment are supported and accessible. Consultation with industry will take place throughout this project to define the hands-on skills required to carry out work for the reclamation of mined land in national skills standards.

There are many complexities to restoring mined lands that do not apply to other environments. Skills are needed to re-establish native ecosystems and groundwater systems. Specific skills and knowledge are required to work with topsoil that has been depleted of nutrients, to manage the presence of chemicals and heavy metals, and consider structural hazards both above and below ground. Restoring mined land will often require multiple inputs, which can include efforts from environmental advisors working on a mine site, field workers carrying out conservation work, through to seed producers creating seeds that can survive in a land depleted of nutrients.

Relevant Occupations

• Natural resource managers
• Machinery operators
• Land surveyors
• Field workers
• Soil, water, air dust noise samplers/testers
• Ecologists
• Bush regenerators
• Native seed collectors
• Wildlife carers and managers

Timeline

September/October 2020
Initial scoping

November/December 2020
Development of draft qualifications, skill sets and units

January/February 2021
Drafts available for broad consultation

April/May 2021
Validation of final drafts

June2021
Finalisation of Training Package components

July/August 2021

Independent Quality Assurance, and Edit and Equity review of Training Package components

September 2021
IRC consideration for sign-off and submission for endorsement

This project will address the need for national skills standards for the rehabilitation of mined lands. There are many complexities to restoring mined lands that do not apply to other environments. While the skills to conserve and manage Australian’s various ecosystems are related, additional expertise is required to rehabilitate land after it has been used for mining. Skills are needed to re-establish native ecosystems and groundwater systems. The hands-on work to restore mined lands is often undertaken by Indigenous rangers and other community members on Aboriginal lands. The work to restoring mined land often requires multiple inputs, which can include efforts from environmental advisors working on a mine site, field workers carrying out conservation work, through to seed producers creating seeds that can survive in a land depleted of nutrients.

Experts in the sector are being engaged to help inform the content for the draft units of competency. A subject matter expert working group has also been identified and they will be convening at the end of November 2020. These experts are being consulted on the best ways to address the need for niche skills in rehabilitating mined land within the national training package. Consideration is being given to whether they should be addressed by a skill set or a stream of study in the Certificate III in Conservation and Ecosystem Management. They are looking at the existing units of competency for conservation and ecosystem management to identify whether additional units need to be developed to address the skills gap for rehabilitating mined land.

Development outcomes and next steps

Broad stakeholder consultation is scheduled to commence in December 2020, when draft units will be made available for feedback on this webpage. Your input is welcome, please feel free to register your interest to keep informed of project updates and when draft materials are available for feedback by following the newsletter subscription link below.

While the skills to conserve and manage Australian’s various ecosystems are related, additional expertise is required to rehabilitate land after it has been used for mining. Skills are needed to re-establish native ecosystems and groundwater systems. Specific skills and knowledge is also required to work with topsoil that has been depleted of nutrients, to manage the presence of chemicals and heavy metals, and consider structural hazards both above and below ground. There are many complexities to restoring mined lands that do not apply to other environments. It is vital that these skills are supported, so that once mining activity is finished, land can be restored to a more natural state.

The unique skills to rehabilitate mined land were identified and described by a group of subject matter experts. This group of experts has considered the fact that the hands-on work is increasingly undertaken by Indigenous rangers and other community members on Aboriginal lands, as well as the fact that it can require multiple inputs, including from environmental advisors, field workers carrying out conservation work, through to seed producers.

The project team identified a range of units of competency that already exist and which cover many of the skills outlined by the subject matter experts. They worked with these experts to package the units together to create a draft qualification and four skill sets which could help deliver training in this sector.

Thank you to those who provided feedback on the draft qualification and skill sets that were made available on this page from 15 December 2020 – 17 February 2021. You can still view the documents and any comments made below.

Feedback on these initial drafts will inform the work on the final drafts which are expected to available for industry validation in April/May 2021.

Much of the specialist skill and knowledge required to conserving and manage Australia’s unique ecosystems are transferable across a range of geographically diverse natural locations. However, additional expertise is required to rehabilitate land after it has been used for mining. Skills are needed to work with topsoil that has been depleted of nutrients, to manage the presence of chemicals and heavy metals, and consider structural hazards both above and below ground. Consultation is taking place throughout this project to capture the hands on skills required to restore mined land. The subject matter experts who have helped support the development of draft skill standards for this work have considered how this work is increasingly undertaken by Indigenous rangers and other community members on Aboriginal lands, as well as the fact that it can require multiple inputs, including from environmental advisors, field workers carrying out conservation work, through to seed producers.

Thank you to everyone who provided feedback on the final draft qualification and skill sets that were made available for validation and comment from 31 May to 17 June 2021. You can still view the documents and any comments made below.

The qualifications and skill sets have been created to provide training options for this growing sector, offering prospective students a grounding in the multitude of tasks required to rehabilitate areas that have previously been used for mining.

Download Summary of Feedback, Responses and Actions