Gippsland Critical Minerals kicks off community conversations

Gippsland Critical Minerals (GCM) today confirmed details of upcoming community engagement sessions to provide an update on rescoping work for the Fingerboards Critical Minerals Project and provide further opportunities to listen to community views.

The community engagement sessions come after four months of work by GCM following the renewal of retention licenses by the State Government at the end of October 2024. This has included holding initial conversations with landholders, community, industry and government stakeholders, and starting new environmental and technical studies. This significant program of work is aimed at addressing the issues raised by government and the community about the old project. Upcoming community meetings include:

• GCM Community Reference Group (CRG). A diverse group of 13 community representatives will come together for the first CRG meeting on 18 March. John Mitchell, a former Managing Director of Gippsland Water and an experienced community chairperson, has been appointed by GCM to be the independent chair of the CRG. Presentations provided to the CRG will be made available on the GCM website following each meeting.

  
  

• Webinar Information and Listening Sessions. GCM’s first community webinars will be held with CEO Michelle Wood, Project Technical Director Stefan Wolmarans and Community Engagement Director Ryan Leslie, will be held on 26 March at 1.00-1.45pm and 27 March at 5.30-6.15pm. More information and online registration are available at gippslandcriticalminerals.com.

  
  

• Community Information and Listening Roadshow. Commencing mid-June, GCM will commence a roadshow to town centres across the region, provide more information, listen to feedback and answer questions. This includes:

  
  

  • Saturday, 14 June in Bairnsdale

  • Saturday, 21 June in Lindenow

  • Saturday, 28 June in Sale

  • Saturday, 5 July in Stratford

GCM CEO Michelle Wood said: “These meetings are an important step at the beginning of a multi-year process to develop a new and better project for East Gippsland. It’s critical to listen to feedback while we are still completing the rescoping work so we can incorporate community views into our proposal.

“This includes further meetings later in 2025 ahead of formal consultation, which will commence in 2026 as part of any EES process. At our upcoming meetings, we will also share an overview of our engagement timeline in advance of formal consultation through any EES. 

“The CRG, our webinars and community meetings build on the many conversations we are having with local people and are important opportunities for us to share more information with more people, and to listen to community views.”

Interested community members can stay up to date by following GCM on Facebook and by signing up for the GCM community newsletter via our website.