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.
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
Environmental assessment
Monitoring and studies
A range of technical and environmental studies are underway. These will be independently assessed through the Environmental Effects Statement (EES) process, with findings made publicly available and open to community comment.
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 community questions
How will you prevent dust from affecting nearby farms and communities?
GCM’s project has been redesigned to minimise dust at its source. GCM also determined that rescoping to a smaller project is one of the best ways to reduce environmental impacts, particularly in relation to dust. Key changes include:
- Reducing the mining footprint by 1,297ha to 955ha (27% reduction)
- more than doubling the distance between mining and the Mitchell River and introducing a a 1.5km ‘buffer’ or mining exclusion zone to significantly reduce the likelihood of any residual dust reaching Lindenow Valley
- Reducing the scale of the mining by 40% (from 1500 tph to 900tph),
- Reducing the size of the mining voids and filling them faster than previously proposed
- A new rehabilitation strategy prioritising the return of the land to current use rather than only native vegetation to enable faster coverage and reduce dust
- An ‘in pit dozer push’ methodology that will reduce dust generated from overburden removal, moving overburden and from on-surface trucks movements – these are the largest contributors to dust on any mineral sands project
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 a mining and rehabilitation demonstration pit in early 2026 to ensure our dust modelling and rehabilitation strategy is tested in situ.
How will water be sourced for the Fingerboards Project?
GCM’s annual water requirement of approximately 3.0 GL will be sourced from a combination of water sources, with major sources expected to be recycled water and winterfill (surface) water allocations from existing licence holders. GCM is also investigating the availability and use of groundwater from the deep Latrobe Aquifer.
We know water is important to the local community, which is why we are engaging with farmers, water authorities, councils, landholders and First Nations groups to gather feedback. The Community Reference Group has also played an important role in informing this work and our demonstration pit is also an input into the final strategies.
All water sourcing, use and potential impacts will be assessed through the Environmental Effects Statement (EES) process, with findings made publicly available.
How will GCM manage impacts on Gippsland Lakes and downstream waterways?
The Fingerboards projects will operate as a zero-discharge site. This means that any surface water affected by mining activities will be captured, retained and reused within the site, rather than released into local creeks or rivers.
A key change supporting this approach is the removal of the above-ground Tailings Storage Facility. Instead, tailings will be co-disposed directly into mined pits, significantly reducing the risk of runoff or seepage reaching downstream environments.
Together, these changes materially reduce risks to surface water quality and associated biodiversity values in the Mitchell and Perry Rivers and the Gippsland Lakes Ramsar wetland.
All impacts on Gippsland lakes and downstream waterways are being assessed as part of the impact assessment work being undertaken as part of the EES.
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.
What do you mean by 'progressive rehabilitation'?
This is sometimes called continual rehabilitation. It means that we rehabilitate as we go. That means as each area of the site is mined, it is backfilled and then rehabilitation commences. This will occur across the majority of the site.
This methodology is now common across mineral sands mining in Victoria. This is regarded as best practice for a number of reasons, including:
- Regular rehabilitation works develop and retain trained staff
- Ensures that areas done at any one time are not large
- Over time, methods are refined, equipment is optimised and readily available, and the area to be rehabilitated at closure is relatively small.
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 that has already begun and the process is being lead by GHD. You can read the scope of those studies here.