The Victorian government is "manipulating" its own planning system to fast track approval for a mining project it already rejected, a leading planning expert claims.
The Fingerboards Mineral Sands Project proposed for eastern Victoria was knocked back by the government in 2021, because it would "pose a significant risk to the environment and valuable horticulture industry".
But the government is now considering what it calls a "new and modified" bid to get the project off the ground, a description that RMIT emeritus professor of planning and environment Michael Buxton said was a "blatant deception".
"The project is not a different project and it's not substantially altered," he said.
Michael Buxton worked at the Victorian planning department for more than a decade. (ABC News: Sean Warren)
Nearby residents who have spent years fighting the mine have a different description of the latest proposal.
"All they've really done is rolled a turd in glitter to make it look shiny,"
organic vegetable grower Kane Busch said.
The company behind the project, Gippsland Critical Minerals (GCM), rejected these claims and said its new bid for approval included significant changes.
GCM said the site was a rich source of a range of minerals, which had been deemed critical by the Australian government.
Global race for critical minerals
Miners have been exploring the Lindenow Valley, 270 kilometres east of Melbourne, for mineral sands since the 1970s.
Irrigated areas of the Lindenow flats. (ABC Rural: Emma Field)
Between 2015 and 2023, global demand doubled for mineral sands, which contain concentrated amounts of heavy minerals such as rare-earth elements.
Organisations from mining giants such as Rio Tinto to junior mining companies have had a stake in the region, but no project has ever been considered commercially or environmentally viable.
After almost a decade of review, in November 2021 the Victorian government rejected a mining project proposed by Kalbar Resources, later Kalbar Operations.
In 2023, Kalbar was renamed to Gippsland Critical Minerals (GCM) and submitted a "rescoped" proposal.
Gippsland Critical Minerals has dug a test pit on its Fingerboards mineral sands site. (ABC Rural: Fiona Broom)
Dr Buxton, who has been involved in planning for 50 years, including at the Environment Protection Authority and state planning department, said the government failed to follow proper process by accepting the Fingerboards project for a second review.
"The minister could have just refused to consider this application — and in my view, should have," he said.
Australia's strategic focus on critical minerals for economic and national security reasons was behind the renewed push for the East Gippsland mineral sands mine, he said.
"Since it was rejected a few years ago, the whole issue of critical minerals has now become an international issue,"
Dr Buxton said.
"This has provided companies with the opportunity to argue that it's a critical resource."
Under the state government's critical minerals road map launched in December 2024, which outlines efforts to build a globally competitive critical minerals sector, eight mines are at various stages of approval.
University of Sydney professor of global governance Susan Park said she was "not surprised at all" that rejected minerals projects were getting a second look.
Dr Park said trade and security agreements between Australia and allies such as the United States were driving state and federal support for mining projects.
"It might not have been viable five years ago, but obviously the demand is continuing to grow and this means that mines that weren't considered possible back then may now be viable,"
she said.
The proposed Fingerboards mine site, 25 kilometres west of Bairnsdale. (Supplied: Gippsland Critical Minerals)
In February, the Australian government gave the Fingerboards proposal Major Project Status, which gives "strategically significant projects" extra support to navigate regulatory approvals.
GCM bills the project as a major source of "ex-China production" of the rare-earth oxides dysprosium and terbium, elements on Australia's critical minerals list.
China controls almost all of the world's production and rare-earth refining.
Terbium and dysprosium oxides, used in renewable energy and military technologies, are almost completely supplied by China.
Site 'still unsuitable' for mine
The Lindenow Valley is a highly fertile region known for its leafy salad vegetables, brassicas and sweet corn.
Up to 2,000 workers harvest about 200,000 tonnes of food every year.
The Mitchell River and countless creeks run through the landscape to the Gippsland Lakes, which are protected under the international Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.
In 2021 an inquiry and advisory committee found the environmental effects of the Fingerboards project could not be managed.
In rejecting the application, then-planning minister Richard Wynne cited "unacceptable" impacts on biodiversity, air quality, agriculture and water.
Mr Busch said he could see the location of the proposed mine from his family's 100-year-old farm in the "pristine" Lindenow Valley.
"If we look at the reasons why the mine wasn't allowed to go ahead in the first place, it's the dust contamination risk, he said.
"We're amazed that it even got another shot."
Dr Buxton said the site remained unsuitable for a mining project, and demand for resources should not influence planning decisions.
He said the government would use planning processes to rubber stamp the project.
"The critical factor should be the impacts on the environment and the social impacts … not the cost of the development or whether or not the Western world needs critical minerals."
Mine footprint cut, company says
The Victorian government declined an interview but said the project was still being considered.
"As this project is currently being assessed it would be inappropriate to comment further — no decision has been made," a spokesperson said.
GCM chief executive Michelle Wood said it was "misleading and false" to claim the project proposal had not been rescoped.
"We've done substantial redesign work over a number of years," she said.
"We have made those changes and adjusted according to what the community have told us."
Michelle Wood says the proposal has undergone "substantial redesign work". (Supplied: Gippsland Critical Minerals)
She said the company reduced the proposed footprint of the mine by 27 per cent and cut the rate of mining by 40 per cent.
Mining would be excluded from a 1.5-kilometre buffer to the Lindenow Valley horticulture area, up from 600 metres, and from three gullies located between the pits and the Mitchell River.
Ms Wood said the project was not being fast-tracked through the environmental assessment process and the community would be given the opportunity to have its say.