The physical, chemical and environmental conditions in open cast limestone mines present extreme challenges to the establishment of tree cover, and the eventual return of such sites to original forest ecosystems. Natural events, such as the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, demonstrate that re-establishment of tropical forests is possible through natural succession, even under the harshest of conditions (Whittaker et al., 1989) but may take a hundred years or more. Forest restoration seeks to enhance, accelerate and direct such natural process, such that such “natural-looking” forests can be restored to limestone mines within reasonable timeframes acceptable to the legal requirement of mine companies to restore natural vegetation, once mining has ceased.