SUNSHINE FOR MINES: A SECOND LIFE FOR LEGACY MINING SITES

This RMI insight brief presents the 'Sunshine for Mines' program, which provides a methodology for transforming legacy or inactive mine sites from financial liabilities into revenue-generating assets through the development of renewable energy and storage solutions.

• The mining industry struggles with decommissioning inactive sites due to high costs of long-term care, land and waterway restoration, and limited alternative uses caused by contamination.
• RMI's Sunshine for Mines program uses a specific methodology to screen portfolios of legacy sites to determine their value proposition for renewables, resulting in a prioritized scorecard of sites and preferred technologies.
• The evaluation process for legacy sites involves three primary stages: environmental, permitting, and regulatory screening; technical feasibility (resource screening and reserve quantification); and the calculation of Net Present Value (NPV).
• Interconnection costs are a critical factor in the economic viability of these projects, with estimated costs ranging from $300,000 to $500,000 per mile for sites located far from the nearest grid substation.
• Financial assessments compare the project's NPV and internal rate of return (IRR) against the 'business-as-usual' cost of maintaining a liability; for instance, a medium-sized closed site may cost several million dollars annually and require 5–10 staff members for maintenance.
• Beyond solar and wind, the methodology screens for alternative generation (geothermal and biomass) and storage technologies, including pumped hydro, chemical (Li-Ion), and kinetic (flywheel) options.
• In an application of this methodology for the mining company BHP's North American portfolio, RMI identified a subset of sites with a collective redevelopment potential exceeding 0.5 GW, primarily through solar PV and some wind development.

APA

Natali, P., Dabbagh, K., & Lund, J. (2017). SUNSHINE FOR MINES: A SECOND LIFE FOR LEGACY MINING SITES. RMI. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/11/RMI_SecondLifeLegacyMiningSites.pdf

Chicago

Natali, Paolo, Kareem Dabbagh, and Jessie Lund. SUNSHINE FOR MINES: A SECOND LIFE FOR LEGACY MINING SITES. RMI, 2017. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/11/RMI_SecondLifeLegacyMiningSites.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Natali |first1=Paolo |last2=Dabbagh |first2=Kareem |last3=Lund |first3=Jessie |title=SUNSHINE FOR MINES: A SECOND LIFE FOR LEGACY MINING SITES |publisher=RMI |date=November 2017 |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/11/RMI_SecondLifeLegacyMiningSites.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{natali2017sunshine, author = {Natali, Paolo and Dabbagh, Kareem and Lund, Jessie}, title = {{SUNSHINE FOR MINES: A SECOND LIFE FOR LEGACY MINING SITES}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2017}, month = nov, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/11/RMI_SecondLifeLegacyMiningSites.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }