East Gippsland Shire councillors unanimously opposed the proposal for the Fingerboards Mineral Sands Project at their first ordinary council meeting last Tuesday.
The decision has been met with mixed reactions with Mine Free Glenaladale members “elated”, while the proponent’s chief executive officer, Jozsef Patarica, of Kalbar Operations, said the company was “disappointed with council’s decision”, particularly as it was aware of some councillors making submissions in opposition to the Environmental Effects Statement (EES).
“We believe council’s decision to oppose the Fingerboards project is not reasonable and balanced,” Mr Patarica said.
“How has council determined the view of its 47,000 constituents?”
In contrast, Mine Free Glenaladale spokesperson, Debbie Carruthers, is excited by the decision.
“It’s an important decision that lets the Victorian Government know the concerns of the local community and council, which is a very important part of the government’s considerations,” Ms Carruthers said.
“It’s very elating to know that and gives us great motivation to keep raising awareness of the issue.”
Ms Carruthers said the December 1 council meeting was addressed by 17 speakers, with 16 raising issues against the mine. Ms Carruthers, the second speaker, talked about there being no social licence for the mine.
“The breadth of the issues covered was amazing,” she said.
“The agencies have all raised concerns including East Gippsland Water and GLaWAC.”
Issues included the impact on farming land, traffic, impact on water resources, and loss of amenity.
There was significant concern regarding impacts on the Mitchell River, the horticulture industry and the Gippsland Lakes, and many of these concerns have also been raised in council’s submission in response to the EES.
Council is not the planning authority for the project and can’t approve or reject the permit application. The councillors’ decision was based on information presented in the proponent’s Environmental Effects Statement (EES).
At the December 1 meeting, council endorsed an independent technical review and key matters paper as council’s submission to the EES.
Mayor Cr Mendy Urie said council had engaged a consultant for the process.
“It was important to ensure the review of the EES was at arms-length of council and conducted by technical experts,” Cr Urie said.
“We have also requested an addendum be prepared that includes issues relating to human health and climate change, as the scope for the technical review did not include detailed review of these elements.”
Council will also lodge an objection to the draft Planning Scheme Amendment Special Controls Overlay provisions associated with the project as part of its submission.
“The proposed planning scheme amendment would effectively remove council as the responsible authority for the planning and implementation of land use strategies for the private land outside the mine footprint,” Cr Urie said.
Council’s response to the EES will be submitted to the Minister for Planning for consideration as part of the EES process and is due by this Friday.
“This was the first opportunity council has had to receive independent advice about the potential impact of the mine proposal. The EES as presented left too many unanswered questions and unresolved issues,” Cr Urie said.
In an interesting twist, Mr Patarica said Kalbar was aware that a number of councillors had publicly expressed opposition to the Fingerboards project before and during the recent council election process, with some councillors making submissions to the EES in opposition to the project and requesting to present to the Panel Inquiry.
“As the project proponent, we have not been approached by the new council to offer them a briefing to help them gain an understanding of the Fingerboards project,” Mr Patarica said.
“Kalbar wishes to develop a strong relationship with the new council - if the Fingerboards project is approved, many aspects of the project will involve council and we sincerely want to work respectfully and successfully together.
“The Fingerboards Project is significant for the East Gippsland region with potential to contribute substantially to, and grow, the regional economy – boosting recovery efforts following prolonged drought, bushfires and impacts from COVID-19.
“We believe mining will successfully coexist with existing land use in the East Gippsland region, as has been demonstrated by many other mining operations across Victoria and Australia.”
Mr Patarica said Kalbar acknowledged and understood some community members were concerned about the impacts on farm land, water resources, roads and traffic, dust and human health, which were all issues that had been addressed in the EES studies.
“We encourage council and all community members to engage with us to discuss their concerns so we can help address those concerns,” he said.
However, Member for Gippsland East, Tim Bull, said EES submissions indicated shortfalls in the level of information the community required.
“Having read submissions from some of the agencies and departments that were involved in the Technical Reference Group, it is clear there are several significant concerns that have not been addressed to the level required; issues that have not been appropriately responded to; and several areas where insufficient detail means risks cannot be assessed,” Mr Bull said.
“It’s disappointing as I expected by this stage these matters would have been largely dealt with. I look forward to hearing the feedback from the independent panel when they review the EES and submissions, but it seems many questions unsatisfactorily remain unanswered.”
Mr Patarica said Kalbar would like councillors to keep an open mind towards the Fingerboards project as it progressed through the EES process to the Inquiry and Assessment Committee hearing, assessment of submissions, and the IAC recommendations to the Victorian Minister for Planning.
Ms Carruthers said she was looking forward to the hearing, which is expected to occur in mid-February, and run for four to six weeks.
“The panel has up to 40 business days to make a decision so if the hearing finishes at the end of March it will potentially be with the Minister in June,” she said.
The directions hearing is set for December 14.