The document was developed with the intention of providing leading practices that will help operators optimize the use of available reclamation materials on a site-specific basis. EPEA approvals state that operators should consider any guidelines prepared or provided by the Director related to the development of soil salvage and placement strategies. In this context, the BMPs will inform the development of the annual Soil Salvage and Placement Plans, the Mine Reclamation Plan and the Life of Mine Closure Plan – the BMPs are not intended to be used as evaluation criteria for appraising any particular operator.
The BMPs are provided as background to aid operators with current and planned reclamation activities to enable continuous improvement. BMPs provide a reasonable level of guidance on practice for activities representing moderate risk and are based on imperfect knowledge. When using this document it is important to think about interactions between individual BMPs, as well as the BMPs and external factors.