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GCM outlines 12 initial changes to the Fingerboards Project

Gippsland Critical Minerals has released an update on rescoping work for the Fingerboards Critical Minerals Project, including details of 12 significant changes to the project in response to government and community feedback.

These initial changes to address key issues concerning the old 2021 project including noise, dust, water run-off, and effects on amenity and lifestyle, which GCM aims to minimise and/or mitigate to the greatest extent possible and within regulatory standards.
 

During 2025, GCM will continue its work rescope the project through an iterative design process, with regular opportunities for the community to influence the project design.

 

By December 2025, GCM will resubmit the project to the Minister for Planning, and we expect to commence a formal EES in 2026.

 

Our priority is to develop a new Fingerboards project that can co-exist with local industries such agriculture and that delivers enduring benefits to the East Gippsland community.

 

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Fingerboards Project - Key Initial Changes

 

  1. No mining 1.5 kilometres from the Lindenow Valley Horticultural Area or in the Perry, Simpson and Lucas Creek gullies to mitigate dust and noise concerns and protect native vegetation.

  2. Slowing the ore mining rate by 40% and spread over two smaller mining units to reduce noise, dust and truck traffic and extending the mine’s life from 15 to 22 years.  

  3. Mining a smaller area at any one time (smaller voids) to allow faster re-filling of the void, enabling quicker rehabilitation and the return of land to agricultural and other community uses.

  4. Less on-surface trucks because overburden is largely removed with an in-pit dozer push reducing on-surface haul and reducing noise and dust.

  5. New rehabilitation strategy responding to farmer feedback to prioritise returning the land to pasture vegetation - together with areas rehabilitated with native grasses. The rehabilitation strategy will be validated with a demonstration pit. 

  6. Examining options for new process plant and rail siding locations so truck movements from the process plant to the rail location will be on private roads.

  7. New strategy to create certainty over the estimated 3.0 GL/year water usage including increased allocations for dust suppression and revegetation irrigation, with water sourced from ground and surface water such as the deep Latrobe aquifer bore fields and winter-fill water from the Mitchell River.

  8. Improved long-term community water security as a legacy benefit of the mine including improved dam infrastructure to support irrigation for local horticulture during drought periods. 

  9. Co-disposal and below-ground tailings removing the risk of dam breaks from an elevated tailings storage dam and no filling of the Perry Gully (as proposed in 2021). This will also eliminate the need for the centrifuges that were previously proposed.

  10. New purpose-built concentrate storage shed replacing previously proposed open-air stockpiles to reduce dust.

  11. Prioritising onshore processing of the heavy mineral concentrate to support Australian manufacturing and national security.

  12. Preservation of Fingerboards Intersection and fewer road relocations across the proposed project to preserve more large trees on the road reserves.


More information on the 12 changes, recent presentations to the GCM Community Reference Group and video recordings of GCM community webinars are available in the News and Resources hub.

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