Gippsland Critical Minerals’s plan to implement a strip mining method if the Fingerboards Mineral Sands Mine is given the tick of approval has done little to quell some concern of those fighting against
the proposal.
Strip mining and open-cut mining are both surface mining techniques, but they differ in how they extract resources and the scale of the operation. Strip mining involves removing a strip of overburden (topsoil and rock) to expose and extract horizontally layered mineral deposits like coal or bauxite.
Open-cut mining, also known as open-pit mining, involves creating a large, open excavation to extract minerals found at varying depths, often requiring blasting and heavy machinery.
Chas Becket, a vocal disputer of the mine, says despite the recent changes reducing the size of the mining boundary and the increasing the distance to the Lindenow vegetable farming valley, mine dust will always be somewhat uncontrollable.
“Toxic dust does not respect property boundaries. It settles on water bodies, contaminating drinking water supplies and harming aquatic life,” he said.
“It coats vegetation, reducing photosynthetic efficiency and stunting plant growth. Over time, ecosystems can be fundamentally altered as dust accumulation changes soil chemistry and disrupts food webs.
“Mining companies frequently provide assurances about dust management. They point to dust suppression technologies, such as in pit push dozer, water sprays, enclosures, and real-time air monitoring. Environmental impact assessments and regulatory frameworks are often cited as evidence of robust oversight. Despite these measures, reports of dust escaping containment, coating nearby communities, and exceeding safe levels are commonplace.”
Mr Becket said several factors contribute to the gap between assurances and reality, including “scale and dynamics; technological limitations; economic pressures and human error.
“The health consequences of toxic dust are well-documented: Fine particles can penetrate deep into the lungs, exacerbating asthma, bronchitis, and other respiratory conditions,” he said.
“Some dusts are carcinogenic, increasing the likelihood of lung cancer and other malignancies with prolonged exposure.
“Vulnerable populations — children, the elderly, and those with pre-existing conditions — are especially at risk. Moreover, the psychological stress of living with persistent dust and uncertainty about long-term health effects can itself be debilitating.
“The minister (Richard Wynne) in his Kalbar rejection report advises under section 5.2 Air quality and Greenhouse Gases pg. 28: ‘Dust is typically generated at mineral sands mines through disturbance of rock or soils by mining equipment and vehicle movement on unsealed roads. Wind erosion of stockpiles and bare or disturbed ground equals dust emissions… finer particles can remain in the atmosphere for days and travel hundreds of kilometres. Fine particulate matter is associated with health impacts…’
“Let us conservatively look at just a hundred-kilometre radius from the mine site and see how many towns and regions may be impacted by the toxic dust. Without naming every location, a hundred-kilometre radius covers 49 townships from Traralgon to Orbost going west to east and Omeo to 72 kilometres into Bass Strait including Paynesville and surrounds and the Gippsland Lakes going north to south.
“In the minister’s report on Kalbar’s application rejection, he states. ‘In my view, that the project’s effects on local air quality standards, I agree with IAC findings that the project will result in significant and unacceptable offsite dust impacts on nearby sensitive receptors. The proponent’s proposed mitigation measures are unlikely to be completely effective and there are too many points of potential failure in the ‘adaptive management’.”
Mr Mal Baker, a local person and past Bairnsdale Shire councillor, now retired, once played a major role in the management of Cooljarloo mineral sands mine in Cataby Western Australia, 155 kilometres north of Perth.
After visiting the Fingerboards site, his reaction was one of concern.
“It is the right mine in the wrong location with dust being my main concern,” he said.
Mr Beckett said if the current Minister for Planning, Sonya Kilkenny, “would leave her office to visit the site and the community as she morally should have, her sentiment with be exactly in parallel”.
