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Mick Harrington, East Gippsland Community and Stakeholder Lead, Gippsland Critical Minerals, November 2025.
This letter is in response to the Letter to the Editor – Concerns for the Victorian Government’s push for critical minerals: Mine Free Glenaladale, published on ARR.News on 6 November 2025.

The 2021 Fingerboards proposal did not receive approval, and that was the right decision for that project at that time. Now led by Gippsland Critical Minerals (GCM), new leadership has taken the time to learn from the past and rebuild the project from the ground up. 

In October 2024 the State renewed two retention licences for a limited period with new conditions. Those stringent conditions require GCM to complete a detailed rescope, run large-scale rehabilitation trials, continue baseline environmental monitoring and refer the new project to the Minister for Planning by 11 December 2025 so the Government can determine whether a fresh EES is required.

Failure to meet any of these conditions could lead to licence cancellation, exactly as it should.

Over the last 12 months stakeholder engagement and feedback on the 2021 project, gathered from public submissions made at that time, have anchored a full redesign from the ground up. Hearing from locals, farmers, technical specialists and small business owners is helping shape a project that now better reflects local needs and priorities, while delivering the stronger safeguards people expect.

The result is a smaller footprint, robust environmental standards and a clear focus on water management and co-existence with farming. Importantly, the project will deliver real jobs and business opportunities for the region, through a design built to meet today’s regulatory standards.

In response to environmental findings and community feedback, the new mine design changes how the site operates. Smaller working areas, covered product storage, and the use of in-pit dozer-push mining are among many measures that will help minimise dust and reduce traffic.

Rehabilitation is built into every stage of the project, not left until the end. As mining moves through the site, each area will be refilled, stabilised and replanted so the land can return to productive agricultural use as quickly as possible. This approach means the landscape is constantly being restored and monitored, setting a new benchmark for how mine rehabilitation is done in our region.

I live here too. I want safe water, healthy farms, real jobs for our kids and an economy that gives people a fair shot. That’s why it matters to me when misleading claims are made that worry local families, and I want to address them here directly.

First, the idea that “radioactive dust” will harm the community is simply not supported by any of the facts.

Low levels of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) are already present in Gippsland soils and mineral sands; mining does not alter this. The material remains at relatively low levels of concentration and stays near its natural activity levels until it is refined.

Refining critical minerals and rare earth elements can substantially increase radioactivity levels, which is why GCM will not refine product on site. Any refinement will occur at specialised facilities, likely in WA or the NT.

Even with low NORM levels, GCM is required to operate under a strong regulatory framework. The Victorian Department of Health will require the Project to obtain a Radiation Management Licence under the Radiation Act, supported by a detailed Radiation Management Plan that explains how materials will be handled, monitored and stored safely.

GCM takes the safety, health and wellbeing of our staff and community seriously. Our Radiation Management Plan will include clear monitoring points, conservative dose triggers and best practice controls to ensure radiation exposure stays well below regulatory limits for workers and the community.

Second, there’s a claim that the use of flocculants in processing could lead to devastating impacts and “will cause fish kills.” That is false and misleading.

Australia is protected by strong chemical regulations and the product we are using is a safe, common option already used in agriculture across East Gippsland, particularly in farm dams and irrigation systems. Across the nation, flocculants are widely used in Australia’s drinking water treatment facilities.

Further, we’ll use an approved product, controlled doses and proven and proper tailings containment. Water quality will be routinely tested and independently verified. Linking flocculants to fish kills ignores Australian standards, robust industry regulation, and the way these products are safely used in applications across the region every day.

Lastly, the claim that “tailings back-filled and buried in the large mining voids will leach toxic substances into the soil and aquifers and consequently into the rivers and Gippsland Lakes” misrepresents both the nature of Fingerboards mineral sands tailings and how tailings storage works.

Geochemistry specialists at a NATA-accredited laboratory in Perth recently completed tailings test work for GCM, stating “there is no evidence to support that release of saline and or metalliferous drainage from the oxidation of sulfides or from the enhanced weathering due to the generation of acidic conditions will occur.” In short, Fingerboards tailings do not produce acidic water and do not release salt or metals.

Early results are encouraging and are consistent with what is typically expected from a mineral sands deposit, supporting the more detailed geochemical and environmental assessments now underway.

Separation will use a simple mechanical process, where heavy mineral sands are separated from ordinary sand using water and gravity. No chemicals, reagents or acids are used. The resulting tailings are mostly sand and clay, returned to the mining void in layers and compacted before being covered and rehabilitated. Because the minerals are not chemically treated, the tailings remain geochemically similar to the original soil profile and do not create the contaminated drainage issues associated with chemical leach or acid-generating mines such as gold operations.

This approach, combined with engineered drainage, controlled water management and progressive rehabilitation, ensures tailings remain stable, non-acid forming and environmentally safe over the long term.

From early community engagement to lasting legacy benefits and radical transparency through publicly accessible reports and studies, GCM is operating under higher standards. This approach strengthens accountability and ensures project operations and information remain, clear, factual and easy to access, in line with community expectations.

Demonstrating those company values, real-time dust monitors will be installed at agreed locations, measuring both PM10 and PM2.5, with results published online alongside comprehensive weather data to give full context. Clear trigger levels will be set in advance, and if these thresholds are approached, GCM will take early action, including reducing or pausing works.

All stormwater will be managed within engineered dams that are certified and inspected annually by an independent dam-safety auditor. These systems are built around public accountability, not self-assessment.

Importantly, the redesigned project showcases agriculture and mining coexistence as a viable proposition. A 1.5 kilometre buffer protects the Lindenow horticulture precinct, and a private haul road will keep mine traffic off public routes. With dust and water contained, independent verification and grower involvement in monitor placement, co-existence isn’t a buzz word, it’s backed with proof, not promises.

We’ve also created a Rail Freight Taskforce, with a mission to realise more of the community benefits created through our rail-first logistics strategy. This means keeping new trucks off the road and backing a new heavy rail logistics connection to lower freight costs for local producers and businesses. By working with industry, growers and freight operators, the taskforce will use GCM’s steady base load to attract rail services and strengthen the region’s supply chains.

Large-scale projects bring challenges, but also opportunities our region hasn’t seen in years. With timber, coal and energy jobs gone, people in East Gippsland need new steady jobs opportunities that provide rewarding careers. If we get this right, we can deliver it while protecting what makes our region special.

Hundreds of jobs will be created during construction, followed by more than 300 ongoing roles during operations. Our focus is on securing these opportunities for East Gippslanders, with local residents prioritised and rosters built so people can live locally and stay connected to family and community.

GCM’s local procurement policy gives Gippsland businesses a genuine first opportunity when they meet safety and quality standards. By opening up tender processes and making them accessible to small firms and First Nations businesses, we are helping local operators win work, grow their capacity and keep investment circulating in the region.

We’re also building partnerships with education and training providers, including exploring programs like Head Start, to create more pathways for Gippsland’s newest workforce. This helps lift local skills, open up apprenticeships and shift the needle on the region’s staggering 13 percent youth unemployment rate.

Together, these initiatives show how the project can help strengthen the local economy, create genuine opportunities and support long-term business confidence.

Passion for place is a good thing. What hurts communities is fear fed by misunderstandings. The earlier 2021 decision set a high bar, and rightly so. The 2024 conditions raise that bar higher still. That’s the path GCM is on now. There is still plenty more work to do to show and test impacts – including through a MRDP. There are clear consequences if we don’t meet expectations.

We all want the same thing: a strong, safe and prosperous future for East Gippsland. Judge us by the evidence and by the way we work with you. GCM’s door is open. Visit the office, come to a drop-in session, or look through the studies on our website yourself. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build good jobs, back local business and care for the land we share. Let’s grab it with both hands and make it ours.

Related letter: Letter to the Editor – Concerns for the Victorian Government’s push for critical minerals: Mine Free Glenaladale