IGF Case Study: Mine Waste Management

This case study examines mine waste governance and leadership in Ghana and the Province of British Columbia, Canada, highlighting how different economic sizes and mining histories can both implement best practices to mitigate environmental and social risks.

• Mine waste, which consists of excess material from moving and processing commodities, can contain mineralization that becomes reactive or is released into air and water during mining, crushing, and dispersal, potentially causing catastrophic environmental and social impacts.
• The governments of Ghana and the Province of British Columbia demonstrate that best practices for mine waste governance can be adopted regardless of a jurisdiction's economic size or its history with large-scale mining.
• Different mining histories provide different governance lessons: British Columbia offers insights on avoiding pitfalls related to long-term legacies of poor waste management, while Ghana provides lessons on managing waste materials despite a shorter history of large-scale mining.

APA

Gillman,, J. H. (2021). IGF Case Study: Mine Waste Management. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/publications/brief/igf-case-study-mine-waste-management

Chicago

Gillman,, Jenifer Hill,Matthew. IGF Case Study: Mine Waste Management. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2021. https://www.iisd.org/publications/brief/igf-case-study-mine-waste-management.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Gillman, |first1=Jenifer Hill,Matthew |title=IGF Case Study: Mine Waste Management |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=14 December 2021 |url=https://www.iisd.org/publications/brief/igf-case-study-mine-waste-management |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{gillman2021igf, author = {Gillman,, Jenifer Hill,Matthew}, title = {{IGF Case Study: Mine Waste Management}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2021}, month = dec, url = {https://www.iisd.org/publications/brief/igf-case-study-mine-waste-management}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }