Test pit to help assess rehabilitation approach at Fingerboards mining site
Resources Victoria has approved the construction of a small test pit for the Fingerboards Mineral Sands Project.
Gippsland Critical Minerals’ exploration Work Plan has been approved for one of its two Retention Licence areas at the Fingerboards site near Glenaladale, 20km northwest of Bairnsdale.
The Fingerboards Project is being developed to mine rare earths and critical minerals that are used in electronics, energy infrastructure and defence applications.
Gippsland Critical Minerals will use the Mining and Rehabilitation Demonstration Pit to refine operational methods and rehabilitation strategies to inform a modified Fingerboards project.
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The modified project will be referred to Minister for Planning for a decision on whether an environment effects statement (EES) is required.
In November 2021 the Minister for Planning’s assessment concluded that the original Fingerboards project would have unacceptable environmental impacts.
In 2024, Resources Victoria renewed two Retention Licences at the Fingerboards site with strict conditions for Gippsland Critical Minerals to meet as it rescopes the project in response to the previous EES outcome.
The mining and rehabilitation demonstration project is scheduled to run for around seven months, starting with site mobilisation and pit construction in early 2026.
The demonstration pit will encompass an area measuring roughly 170 metres in length, 55 metres in width and 21.6 metres in depth.
Gippsland Critical Minerals says a feasibility study is underway based on 7.2 million tonnes per annum of shallow progressive mining using low-disturbance in-pit dozer push mining units. Ore will be slurry-pumped to an on-site wet concentration plant, using water sourced from multiple groundwater and recycled sources to produce a heavy mineral concentrate via traditional gravity separation.