11 10 disruptions (CDP, 2023). Even short-term production interruptions materially affect operating margins, cash-flow stability and net present value projections (World Bank, 2016). Consequently, reliable water access becomes a determinant of project bankability, influencing financing conditions, insurance premiums and access to capital under international environmental and social standards. Water management investments therefore function as mechanisms to reduce cashflow volatility, and protect long-term asset valuation (International Council on Mining and Metals, 2017). In many arid mining regions, extraction exceeds natural recharge, driving aquifer depletion and long-term risk, pressures intensified by climate variability and extremes. Because surface and groundwater are interconnected, operational decisions generate basin-wide and intertemporal effects (Hiam-Gálvez, 2024). Global evidence further shows that total water storage reflects both climate and human intervention, underscoring the need for diversified green and grey strategies to enhance resilience (Scanlon et al., 2022). These conditions underscore the need for integrated, basin-scale management under uncertainty. Building on this evidence, the paper advances a four-component framework linking monitoring and modelling, efficiency and alternative sourcing, supply augmentation, and governance coordination as mutually reinforcing pillars of mining water resilience. Data-driven and forward-looking water resources management Across mining contexts, effective water management is increasingly framed as an integrated measurement–model–decision loop spanning surface and groundwater across operations and closure. Leading practice moves beyond periodic compliance sampling toward continuous monitoring, coupled water balance and hydrogeological modelling, and climate stress testing under hydrological non-stationarity (Kennedy, 2025; Punkkinen, 2016). This shift reflects recognition that mine water systems are highly sensitive to variability and that uncertainty must be actively managed rather than averaged out. Recent practice emphasizes fit-for-purpose instrumentation to monitor flows and storage across surface systems, dewatering networks, tailings facilities, seepage pathways, and aquifers. Automated telemetry and continuous monitoring improve data continuity and water accounting (Burton, 2023; Drobniewski et al., 2017). Life-of-mine water balance models increasingly integrate time-series data to test climate variability and operational contingencies, while monitoring designed “with the end in mind” strengthens closure and liability management (Kennedy, 2025). Advanced tools such as InSAR further enhance detection of hydrogeomechanical responses beyond conventional networks(Falorni et al., 2018). Climate-scenario modelling shifts design from stationary assumptions toward stress testing under extremes, supporting trade-off analysis among supply reliability, discharge compliance, and storage risk (Zhou et al., 2013). This is particularly critical for closure, where extreme precipitation may exceed original design thresholds and increase long-term treatment
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