Rehabilitation of areas affected by cave mining

Cave mining is not a new mining method, but to date there have been few applications in Queensland (or Australia). Increasing global demand for commodities such as copper will drive recovery from more complex, deep and/or lower grade ore bodies as surface deposits are depleted. This could lead to an increase in cave mining in Queensland. Residual environmental impacts and the nature of rehabilitation considerations from cave mining techniques may differ from other mining techniques currently used in Queensland, and this warrants consideration ahead of future growth in the technique being deployed in Queensland. The Office of the Queensland Mine Rehabilitation Commissioner has undertaken work to explore rehabilitation considerations for cave mines.

Publications

Rehabilitation insights

• Rehabilitation considerations for cave mines in Queensland, May 2026 (PDF, 439.6KB)

This Rehabilitation Insights paper explores rehabilitation considerations for cave mines (including sub-level and block cave mines). This document is not intended to provide leading practice advice, but rather to draw attention to aspects of rehabilitation that may be important for cave mines.