63 1. INTRODUCTION The global mining industry is at a defining point, where operations are increasingly expected to move beyond regulatory compliance and become catalysts for environmental and social transformation. In this context, mine closure plays a central role, as it requires forward-looking planning approaches that integrate environmental protection, community aspirations, and the definition of future land uses. The integrated closure vision promoted by the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) has become an international benchmark in this field. The most recent update of the Integrated Mine Closure: Good Practice Guide (ICMM, 2025) emphasizes the need to incorporate early definition of post-mining land uses and to establish verifiable closure success criteria. These guidelines highlight that mine closure is an iterative process that begins early in the project life cycle and that post-closure performance largely depends on design decisions made well before operations commence. Over the past decade, closure planning has evolved from compliance with generic environmental quality standards toward the application of integrated risk assessments, including both Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA) and Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA). These approaches explicitly link closure success criteria, remediation decisions, and future land-use scenarios. The ICMM Good Practice Guide (2025) consolidates this transition by incorporating tools for risk and opportunity management, long-term monitoring, and adaptive post-closure management. In parallel, international organizations such as the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) have reinforced the need to demonstrate protection of human health and the environment through risk assessments proportional to site conditions and proposed future uses (World Bank, 2024; IFC, 2007; IFC, 2012). In regulatory practice, some countries have advanced in the implementation of this approach. For example, Western Australia’s Mining Development and Closure Proposals guidelines require development and closure proposals to incorporate iterative risk assessments integrated with closure criteria, cost estimation, and progressive design updates throughout the life of the operation (DMPE, 2025). In the Peruvian context, Law No. 28090 and its Regulations (Supreme Decree No. 033-2005-EM) establish the obligation to plan and execute mine closure ensuring physical and chemical stability, as well as protection of human health, the environment, and property. However, current regulations do not explicitly require evaluation of future land-use scenarios or systematic assessment of human health and environmental risks associated with those scenarios within approved closure plans. This regulatory gap implies that mining projects may comply with closure requirements without necessarily ensuring that the adopted closure design enables safe, productive, and socially viable post-mining land uses.
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