THE 12 PRINCIPLES OF LANDFORM DESIGN

Mine with the land in mind. Create a shared vision for the reclaimed land with the mine, its stakeholders, and Indigenous Peoples. Work together to earn trust.
Establish governance. Assemble a multidisciplinary design team that functions as an interdisciplinary team. Appoint a lead designer. Design with flair.
Set clear land-use targets, goals, design objectives, and design criteria in a Design Basis Memorandum; steward the vision. Anticipate the land will evolve over time: physically, chemically, biologically, and socially. Design, construct, monitor, and maintain the land to adapt to these changes, including those driven by climate change.
Work collaboratively in every endeavor. Build the reclaimed landscape with, not for, land users. Embrace co-reclamation.
Work all spatial scales simultaneously: regional, landscape, landform, and element.
Build and reclaim landforms and landscapes using available technologies that are fit for purpose; design for construction and operations, control the source of contaminants, and avoid producing soft tailings.
Use a risk-based approach. Design for the most likely case; embrace the observational method and adaptive management; enact contingencies as needed to allow the landform to perform as intended.
Know the materials; their properties, quantities, and locations. Conserve soils and biotic entities. Value biodiversity.
Follow every drop of water through the landscape; water is key to life and a great agent of disruption. Know the water balance.
Favour progressive reclamation to minimize work required after operations. Learn by doing, monitoring, and documenting. Collaborate for progressive and timely access to reclaimed land for people to restablish their connections to, and relationships with, the land.
Plan for sustainable (environmental, social, and economic) closure and reclamation, recognizing there will be residual risks that require financial assurance.
Share experiences. Learn from failure and celebrate success.