Mine closure is the compulsory final chapter of every exploitation licence — and the chapter most neglected while a project is still at the application stage. The Law on Geology and Minerals 54/2024/QH15 treats closure as a procedure with an approved plan, a securing deposit and a formal acceptance, not as pulling equipment out when reserves run dry. Companies that misread this discover closure costs exactly when the mine no longer has cash flow to pay them.
What the closure procedure involves
When extraction ends — reserves exhausted, licence expired or early termination — the operator closes the mine under the approved closure and rehabilitation plan: making structures, underground workings and pits safe, dismantling equipment as prescribed, backfilling and rehabilitating land, then requesting inspection and acceptance by the competent authority. Only after satisfactory acceptance is the closure duty complete and the licence file finally closed. Stopping actual extraction without the closure procedure leaves the licence and all its duties hanging over the company.
The rehabilitation deposit: payment, holding and refund
To secure rehabilitation, the company must lodge an environmental rehabilitation deposit under the approved plan, sized on the cost of rehabilitating the whole extraction area and paid on a schedule tied to extraction progress. The deposit is held across the mine’s life and refunded only after the authority accepts the rehabilitation result — possibly in portions matching accepted rehabilitated areas where the plan allows. A company that abandons its rehabilitation duty loses the refund: the State uses that very money to organise substitute rehabilitation, and costs beyond the deposit can still be recovered.
Post-closure monitoring and post-mining land use
Acceptance is not an absolute end point: some mine areas — above all underground mines and tailings ponds — need a period of geological-stability and water-quality monitoring after closure before the land enters a new use. Post-mining land use must fit the locality’s land-use planning: the land may convert to forestry, agriculture, water storage or other purposes depending on actual safety and environmental conditions. Company and locality should agree the post-mining land direction when the closure plan is approved, avoiding land that sits abandoned for years because nobody is sure of its legal status.
Common closure mistakes
Three errors repeat: letting the closure plan go stale against a mining design that has changed many times, failing to adjust the deposit when the extraction area expands, and end-term management treating closure as ‘the next owner’s problem’. All three end at the same point — real rehabilitation costs far beyond estimates, landing exactly when the company is weakest. Sound governance reviews the plan and deposit level whenever the mine design changes, and books the closure duty in financial statements as a real provision.
Frequently Asked Questions
What procedure does mine closure require?
The company closes the mine under the approved plan: making structures and extraction areas safe, dismantling equipment, backfilling, rehabilitating environment and land, then requesting inspection and acceptance by the competent authority. The duty completes only after satisfactory acceptance; merely stopping extraction leaves the licence and duties fully alive.
How big is the rehabilitation deposit, and is it refunded?
The deposit is sized under the approved rehabilitation plan, matching the cost of rehabilitating the whole extraction area, and paid on a schedule tied to extraction. It is refunded after satisfactory rehabilitation acceptance — possibly in portions for accepted areas where the plan so provides.
How is mine land monitored and used after closure?
Some areas need continued geological-stability and water-quality monitoring after acceptance, especially underground mines and tailings ponds. Post-mining land enters new uses under local land-use planning — forestry, agriculture, water storage or others — depending on the site’s actual safety and environmental condition.
This article has been quality-reviewed by the FLAW AI Legal Council