About LURA

The World Bank is finalizing a comprehensive set of global coal mine closure good practice technical standards that will enable the transition from “physical closure” to a more “sustainable” closure in the context of achieving a “Just Transition for All”. The good practice technical standards outline activities, regulatory implications, and policy issues that need to be addressed during planning, execution and post closure of a coal mine sites.

The World Bank encourages and supports the use of tools to assess, evaluate, and classify resources which are at risk of losing value if the threat of environmental degradation and community safety are not addressed. Moreover, this approach recognizes the interconnected nature of the issues that confront operating companies at the time of mine closure and underscores the need for mine operators to develop a comprehensive resource management plan early in mine operation and periodically through closure and repurposing.

A tool (LURA) has been designed with risk-based, spatial planning capabilities and is aligned with new global standards for coal mine closure. This ensures that guidance / advice on planning and preparation for coal mine closure is aligned with a regulatory approach in which technical standards used to close a mine address legacy risks from surface and underground mine operations.

For surface or underground coal mine operations different biological, physical, chemical, socioeconomic and financial conditions are evaluated that may affect the closed mine or broader area during closure or many years after closure (post closure legacies). The aim is to characterize mine land for legacies, but at the same time consider possible repurposing scenarios and evaluate future repurposing potential in order to create a sustained development during mine closure operations.

A dedicated cloud based, simple to use Land Utilization Rating Application (LURA) has been developed in order to support stakeholders, organization or entities involved with post mine land transition management. This document provides the User’s Manual for LURA usage