The NSW Resources Regulator’s New RCE Tool: Steps Toward Further Rehabilitation Accountability

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Image source: Updated Rehabilitation Cost Estimate (RCE) tool webinar November 2025

Introduction

The 'NSW Resources Regulator' has released a significantly updated Rehabilitation Cost Estimation (RCE) Tool to improve the accuracy, transparency, and defensibility of mine rehabilitation cost calculations. The tool, introduced on 31 October 2025, became mandatory for all Mining Title rehabilitation cost estimates submitted alongside Forward Programs from 2 March 2026. The Resources Regulator has provided extensive guidance materials, including tutorials, and has planned a staged transition to support industry wide transfers from old RCE systems.

The Rehabilitation Cost Estimation (RCE) framework and the requirements for security deposits or rehabilitation security deposits have evolved over the last few decades in response to growing environmental awareness, legislative reforms, and the growing need to address legacy mining issues.

Early focus: Safe, Stable, Sustainable

Mine rehabilitation was not a formal requirement in NSW until the NSW Mining Act 1992 detailed rehabilitation must be completed to the satisfaction of the minister, including that final land uses are “safe, stable, and non-polluting”. These obligations now apply across the entire mining lifecycle and are overseen by the NSW Resources Regulator.

Over time, the Regulator has recognised that rehabilitation should not be an afterthought once mining activities have ceased. Instead, modern practices require land to be progressively rehabilitated, with the post-mining land uses planned and approved prior to mining operations. This ensures better environmental and financial outcomes which further reduces the risk of abandoned mining land.

The problem of Legacy Mines and the shift toward financial assurance

Historically, some mining operations closed after mining a resource without completing any or satisifactory rehabilitation, leaving the government responsible for funding extensive and expensive remediation efforts. This contributed to a conversation on the need for financial assurance mechanisms such as security deposits (security bonds), to ensure sufficient funds are available in the case that a mining company is unable for any reason to rehabilitate their footprint.

In NSW these learnings informed regulatory reforms in 2021 that require all mining and exploration title holders to lodge a security deposit that intends to cover the full cost of rehabilitation from the outset. This system ensures that should liabilities be left to the state, ample resources are secured and state sourced funding of these projects is minimal.

Case studies from the Legacy Mines Program:

Other states have adopted similar models:

Growing Regulatory Scrutiny and Modernisation of Rehabilitation Requirements

As public expectations and environmental regulation have increased, NSW has undertaken more formal monitoring and auditing of rehabilitation performance. The 2025 report by the Audit Office of NSW highlighted gaps in data collection, monitoring and compliance enforcement, emphasising the need for stronger oversight of rehabilitation progression and adequate security bonds.

These findings reinforced why accurate cost estimation tools like the RCE Tool are crucial. Without reliable data representing disturbance, mine planning and rehabilitation progression, regulators cannot properly evaluate whether security deposits accurately reflect current rehabilitation costs.

Why Rehabilitation Cost Estimates became Essential

By the 2000s and 2010s it became clear that:

Rehabilitation must be systematically planned and budgeted.
Cost estimates must be updated routinely throughout the mine’s life.
The Regulator requires transparent and defensible methodologies to adjust security deposits.
Over time, mining technologies, labour rates, and environmental standards change, meaning that static cost schedules quickly become outdated and unreliable.

These needs directly influenced the development and evolution of the Rehabilitation Cost Estimation (RCE) framework.

The requirement for a new tool emerged from a multi-year benchmarking exercise that revised unit rates, and expanded cost line items (more specific breakdown of costs to help identify costs/areas missed in previous revisions), increasing the reliability of security deposits held by the NSW Government to cover rehabilitation liabilities.

Image source: Updated Rehabilitation Cost Estimate (RCE) tool webinar November 2025

What’s in the New Tool?

Market aligned and transparent costing

The updated tool introduces revised cost rates benchmarked against current industry conditions and enables operators to nominate alternate rates (if supported by third-party quotes), permitting flexibility whilst maintaining reliability.

Risk-based structure

A tiered, risk-based framework scales estimate to the nature, size and complexity to each operation, improving comparability across different mine types and development stages.

Expanded technical guides

Updated guidance to clarify how to define final land use domains (including tailing storage areas) strengthens expectations for rehabilitation completion criteria, and provides additional direction on groundwater/surface water, geotechnical and erosion stability, and vegetation rehabilitation.

Transition Support

The Regulator has produced manuals, help videos, and webinars to support the transition.

Looking ahead:

The updated RCE Tool is the latest milestone in a series of efforts to align policy intent, industry practice and financial assurance. By anchoring security deposits in transparently benchmarked, risk-based estimates, and clarifying technical expectations for site closure, NSW regulators are ensuring that land disturbed by mining can be productive during and post-life of operations.

The RCE is still not able to completely prevent state liability in post-mining clean up, however, the ongoing improvements mean that we can return more land back into a safe, sustainable and non-polluting state. With continual improvements the Rehabilitation Cost Estimate and Security Bond process will continue to grow in accuracy and will create more environmental accountability for operations within New South Wales.

Atlantech has begun supporting clients with this new tool and is familiar with the update from the previous RCE tool to the new RCE tool. Atlantech has also consulted extensively with the NSW Resources Regulator throughout to ensure accuracies of the data update in the best interest of clients and the regulator. Atlantech is happy to assist other clients in the new RCE tool update as required, inclusive of any spatial (GIS) updates.