Opencast restoration for the 21st century: an evaluation of stakeholders' expectations

Over 30 opencast coal sites have been restored by the Banks group between 1990 and 2000. Restoration proposals form an ever more crucial part of a mining company's development work. This research investigated people's attitude towards opencast restoration. The two main research questions were asked in semi-structured interviews with various stakeholders. Firstly what do they expect from site restoration and secondly, how well do they think opencast operators live up to these expectations? The results show that there is an almost universal belief that the financial budget for site restoration is less important than the overall company attitude to restoration. The interviewees suggested many recommendations to address unresolved restoration issues. A nine-point action plan has been implemented, aimed at continuous improvement in the field of opencast restoration.