Our commitment
Rehabilitation & restoration
We are commited to being a responsible custodian of the land and natural environment. By learning from and working in partnership with First Nations and the community we will deliver best-in-class environmental management, rehabilitation and restoration to support successful co-existence with the local agricultural and horticultural industries.
At the heart of this commitment is the use of best-practice progressive mining methods that minimise surface disturbance and enable continuous rehabilitation throughout the project and beyond.
Our mandate
Critical resources such as the minerals and rare earths found here at Fingerboards can be extracted without compromising agricultural productivity or environmental health. Our approach reimagines mining as a temporary land use that can help restore productive soils, supports diverse ecosystems, and helps build resilient local economies.
Environmental guardianship
We protect East Gippsland’s natural values through data-led management, progressive rehabilitation, and continuous monitoring that meets or exceeds industry standards.
Community partnership
We build genuine relationships founded on transparency, two-way dialogue, and collaborative decision-making that ensures local voices shape our project.
Responsible production
We are thinking big about how to use innovative technologies and practices that minimise our footprint while maximising the value of resources critical to a low-carbon economy.
Lasting legacy
We design operations with the end in mind – returning land to productive use, creating enduring local economic opportunities, and leaving positive infrastructure improvements.
Get Involved
Have your say on rehabilitation and restoration
GCM is working to develop a Rehabilitation and Restoration Masterplan in partnership with the community to ensure we are informed by local knowledge and local voices in the development of our approach. If you are interested in getting involved email Mick Harrington or Murray Holland.
Mick Harrington
Community and Stakeholder Lead
Contact Mick
Murray Holland
Seed Production Facility & Land Management Supervisor
Contact Murray
Monitoring & Studies
Best-in-class environmental management
The rare earths beneath our feet power wind turbines and electric vehicles, but we won’t sacrifice environmental health to extract them. Our team conducts thorough studies on water, dust, and biodiversity before breaking ground, sharing results openly and welcoming community input that genuinely shapes our plans.
High standards
We have adopted leading national and international standards for environmental and social sustainability
Framework
‘Towards Sustainable Mining’ ESG Framework
standards
Performance Standards on Environmental and Social Sustainability
Framework
International framework for assessing and managing environmental and social risks in projects
Responsible growth
Partnering with Appian Capital Advisory
Appian Capital Advisory is a key investment partner in the Fingerboards Project, bringing world-class expertise in sustainable mining and critical minerals to help deliver a local project built to global standards.
Appian brings deep technical, environmental and operational expertise that strengthens our work. Their global experience demonstrates that mines can coexist with farming communities and regional landscapes when they are designed transparently and developed through genuine community partnership.
As a major investor, GCM operates in alignment with Appian’s rigorous environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards. This shared commitment to responsible practice saw GCM featured in Appian’s 2025 Sustainability Report, recognising our contribution to advancing transparent and sustainable critical minerals supply chains.
Resource
Appian 2024-2025 Sustainability Report
Our Community Benefit Sharing Plan has been co-developed in collaboration with the community to ensure it reflects local priorities, needs, and aspirations.
Frequently asked questions
Answers to common questions about our approach to sustainability
How will you prevent dust from affecting nearby farms and communities?
GCM’s project has been redesigned to minimise dust at its source. We understand that people are concerned, especially when it comes to air quality, dust, and the long-term health of their families and rescoping to a smaller project is one of the best ways to reduce environmental impacts, particularly in relation to dust.
Key changes include:
- Increased the buffer zone to significantly reduce the likelihood of any residual dust reaching Lindenow Valley.
- Reducing the scale of mining activities
- Changing the size of the open voids, the way they are created and the length of time they are open
- Reducing truck movements
- Constructing covered storage areas.
For example:
- Reducing the scale of the mining by 40%, spread across two mining locations to reduce the dust generated at any one location, at any one time.
- Reducing the size of the mining voids and filling them within 12 months, with land rehabilitation beginning immediately after filling.
- Introducing a new method of mining called ‘in pit dozer push’ that will reduce dust generated from overburden removal and from on-surface trucks.
We are also reducing the risk of airborne dust travelling as a result of wind by:
- Establishing storage sheds for the bulk concentrate
- Increasing the use of dust suppressant measures, which will be tested as part of the demonstration pit trials
- Using a changed rehabilitation strategy to accelerate ground cover establishment and the return of the land to agricultural use and native grass.
We expect these measures will dramatically reduce dust, and quantifying the impact of these proposed mitigation measures is now the subject of detailed assessments and studies. This includes plans for a demonstration pit in early 2026 to ensure our dust modelling and rehabilitation strategy is tested in situ.
As these studies, which will be conducted by third-party experts, are completed, we will share the results with the community.
GCM expects to be able to quantify the reduction in the amount of dust generated and any dust impacts as part of these studies.
GCM also expects that air quality monitoring, which will be made available to the public and regular independent testing by a trusted third party and regulatory oversight, will form part of the final rescoped project.
What measures are in place to protect local water supplies and waterways?
Our water management plan focuses on responsible sourcing, efficient recycling, and strict quality controls. We’re designing the project to capture and treat all site water before any controlled release, with monitoring upstream and downstream of operations. By implementing progressive rehabilitation and erosion controls, we’ll protect waterway health throughout mining and beyond. We’re also exploring opportunities to enhance long-term water security for both the project and local communities.
Will radiation from mineral sands pose health risks to workers or residents?
The naturally occurring radiation in mineral sands is low-level and carefully managed.
Radiation at high levels occurs during a type of mineral sands processing that is not going to occur at Fingerboards.
It is only during final processing, in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, almost 4,000km from East Gippsland, that any radiation from NORM would be concentrated enough to be classified as Radioactive Material (Class 7). In Western Australia and the Northern Territory, specific measures are in place to manage these outcomes at these processing locations, which are subject to strict regulatory oversight from the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA).
To provide independent monitoring against the baseline levels at Fingerboards, the Victorian Department of Health has installed its own monitoring stations across the site.
How long will it take for mined land to return to productive agricultural use?
With smaller voids, land will be filled within 12 months, and rehabilitation will begin immediately across the site. This approach means land returns to productivity much faster than traditional mining. Typically, areas can return to agricultural use within 2-3 years after mining. We’re demonstrating this process with our rehabilitation trial, showing how quickly land can recover when proper soil reconstruction and revegetation techniques are applied.
What will happen to local wildlife and vegetation during mining operations?
GCM is conducting detailed ecological surveys to identify important habitats and species. However, as a first step to improve on the design of the previous project and reduce impacts, GCM has rescoped to preserve key wildlife corridors and environmental features, particularly through our gully areas. Work on our ecological studies includes baseline monitoring has already begun and the process is being lead by AECOM. You can read the scope of those studies here.
We relocate wildlife from active mining areas and restore native vegetation through our nursery program, which cultivates local species for rehabilitation. Our goal is to enhance biodiversity value over time, creating more diverse and resilient ecosystems than currently exist in some areas.
How will climate change impacts be considered in your environmental planning?
Climate modelling is a key component of our environmental planning. We’re assessing how changing rainfall patterns, temperature, and extreme weather events could affect our operations and rehabilitation success. Our water management systems are designed with capacity to handle increased rainfall intensity, while our revegetation programs select species resilient to predicted future conditions. We’re also exploring opportunities to incorporate renewable energy into our operations to reduce our carbon footprint. We have installed a second weather monitoring station as part of our baseline monitoring work and real time data from that station will soon be available online.