The AMD management decisions you make in the first two years of a project are the ones you'll be answering for at closure. And increasingly, the data collected early on isn't standing up to the scrutiny it's getting from regulators and closure planners. The guidance on how to do this well exists. The problem is making it work in practice.

The guidance exists. Implementation is the hard part.

Implementation is where things get difficult. If anything, there is now too wide a range of possible approaches for a mining operation, and many of the existing guides may not be relevant or too complex to execute effectively. The reality on site — budget constraints, legacy data of variable quality, regulatory timelines, competing priorities — makes it hard to translate that guidance into practice.

Practical AMD management across the mine life cycle

At EGi, I lead geochemical characterisation programs that are not just founded on understanding the technical aspects of AMD characterisation of mine waste materials, but also understanding where a mining project is at in its life cycle, the regulatory context, and how AMD management must be kept as practical as possible to actually achieve successful environmental outcomes. This approach is relevant to the various gold, base metals, iron ore, and critical minerals projects that we service here in Western Australia, as well as other areas of Australia and internationally.

EGi authored the AMIRA ARD Test Handbook in 2002 — one of the industry's most widely referenced guides to acid rock drainage test work methods. Since then, many laboratories have been using these test work methods, including our very own laboratory, which has operated for several decades undertaking test work for over 550 mining projects across Australia and several continents across the globe.

Since that time, several very valuable guidance documents have been provided to the mining industry on the various stages of geochemical characterisation and AMD management planning from project conception to mine closure.

"AMD management must be kept as practical as possible to achieve successful environmental outcomes."

For example, the Global Acid Rock Drainage Guide (INAP 2014), the recent Tool for Acid Rock Drainage and Metal Leaching Prevention and Management (INAP & ICMM 2025), and here in Western Australia, sections of the Guideline for Preparing Mining Development and Closure Proposals (DMPE 2025), are valuable documents that the mining industry has needed for a long time.

But the gap between what those documents recommend and what mining companies can practically implement has, if anything, grown wider.

A guidance series built around what actually happens on site

I'm leading the development of a series of guidance document on AMD assessment and management practice that seeks to provide greater insight into some of the key fundamentals that should be considered, providing approaches and information that can be relied upon to inform fit-for-purpose mine and closure AMD management strategies.

The focus is on the practical side of implementation, such as:

• Where do missteps happen early on that have consequences later?

• Where are the gaps between what a guidance document suggests and what gets done on site?

• How do we make it easier for mining operations to get this right?

• What approaches are relevant to their project stage and proportionate to their actual risk?