Identification of environmental costs in mine closure in Chile

Abstract

This study aims to identify environmental costs of mining closure in order to establish valuation basis for further recognition or disclosure to stakeholders. All this research is within the regulatory and legal framework governing Chilean mining nowadays. The methodology used is purely descriptive and purposeful, as it provides a basis for responding to the problem of identifying environmental costs from the perspective of management accounting, which would allow organizations to have management tools geared specifically to respond to a sustainable structure. The results are a proposal of environmental cost identification during a mining closure stage, where it is suggested to divide them depending upon their origin in regulatory costs, impacts on eco-systemic goods, and contingency and relation costs.