The Inquiry and Advisory Committee (IAC) comprises of the following Members:

• Nick Wimbush (Chair)
• Natasha Reifschneider (Deputy Chair)
• Meredith Gibbs
• John Ginivan

To develop the Fingerboards Mineral Sands Project (the Project) which has an approximate area of 1,675 hectares and is located approximately 20 kilometres north-west of Bairnsdale in East Gippsland, Victoria.

The proposal includes:

• the development of a mineral sands mine
• two mining unit plants
• wet concentrator plant (comprising mineral separation processing and tailings thickening and disposal plant)
• water supply infrastructure (inside and outside of the mining licence)
• power supply infrastructure (inside and outside of the mining licence)
• tailings storage facility
• additional site facilities, such as a site office, warehouse, workshop, loading facilities and fuel storage
• new rail siding/ roads/ diversions/ intersections etc (outside of the mining licence).

The proposed mining methods involve open pit mining to extract approximately 170 million tonnes of ore over a projected mine life of 20 years to produce approximately 8 Mt of mineral concentrate. Mine products are proposed to be transported via road or by rail for export overseas.

The mining project would require up to 9000 kilovolt-ampere (kVA) hours of power likely to be supplied from the electricity grid and annual water requirements of approximately 3 gigalitres.

The Proponent is Kalbar Operations Pty Ltd (Kalbar).

View the Proposal

You may inspect the EES, draft Planning Scheme Amendment and Works Approval Application and any related documents on the Kalbar Fingerboards Mineral Sands Project webpage.

The Project was on public exhibition for 40 business days between Thursday 3 September and 5.00pm on Thursday 29 October 2020. You can view the submissions received here.

The first Directions Hearing was conducted by video conference using Zoom at 10.00am on Monday 14 December 2020.

A audio recording of the first Directions Hearing is available on YouTube.

The purpose of the Directions Hearing was to:

• consider any preliminary or procedural issues and give directions about the conduct of the Hearing including the exchange of any expert witness reports
• make arrangements for the Hearing, including the Timetable and Hearing venue
• answer any questions people may have about the Hearing.

The second Directions Hearing was conducted by video conference using Zoom at 10.00am on Monday 15 February 2021.

A audio recording of the second Directions Hearing is available on YouTube.

The purpose of the second Directions Hearing was to set out a new timeframe for the Hearing to commence and to discuss other matters (see tabled document 105).

The third Directions Hearing was conducted by video conference using Zoom at 10.00am on Wednesday 31 March 2021.

A audio recording of the third Directions Hearing is available on YouTube.

The purpose of the third Directions Hearing was to finalise any outstanding arrangements leading up to the hearing. The Directions Hearing covered, amongst other things:

• Reconfirmation of dates and consideration of outstanding material (if any)
• Timetable considerations
• Final hearing arrangements
• Additional site inspections

The Public Hearing commenced on Monday 3 May 2021 and ran across ten weeks to Thursday 22 July 2021.

The Public Hearing was to give people an opportunity to speak in support of their written submission. The Public Hearing was open for anyone to watch.

The hearing was a hybrid between videoconference using the Zoom videoconference platform and limited in-person submitter attendance in Bairnsdale (under Covid restrictions).

All documents tabled with the IAC during the hearing are available on the Engage Victoria Tabled Documents page.

Audio recordings from the Hearing are available on the Engage Victoria Hearing Recordings Page.

This Privacy Collection Statement relates to all submissions collected in relation to the Fingerboards Mineral Sands Project Inquiry and Advisory Committee (the ‘IAC’). Planning Panels Victoria (PPV) is providing administrative services to the IAC.

PPV is part of the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and submissions will be managed in accordance with the Department’s Information Privacy Policy. The Department’s Information Privacy Policy is online at https://www2.delwp.vic.gov.au/doing-business-with-us/information-privacy.

Use of your submission

Your submission has been collected by the IAC for the purpose of helping to develop its advice to the Minister for Planning in accordance with the Terms of Reference.

Natural justice to participants and transparency are important parts of the IAC process. In meeting its legislative requirements and complying with the Terms of Reference, the IAC may do the following with your submission:

• Publish a copy of your submission, in its entirety, on the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning website, Engage Victoria website or other Victorian Government website as required
• Provide a copy of your submission to the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Local Councils, Kalbar Operations Pty Ltd, EPA Victoria, Government Agencies and other parties (submitters) to the process
• Provide a copy of your personal contact details to the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and EPA Victoria if needed for notification of Ministerial decisions
• Display a copy of your submission in the Planning Panels Victoria Office
• Display a copy of your submission at relevant Local Council, Local Library or Government Offices as appropriate
• If a Public Hearing is to be held, display a copy of your submission in the Hearing room.

Publication of your personal information on the Internet

The IAC Report will be published on the internet and may include:

• The name of the submitter
• Direct quotes from some of the submission
• The submitter’s name and address as required.

Planning Panels Victoria will remove your submission from the web pages that it controls within six months after the IAC has reported. Planning Panels Victoria cannot guarantee that your submission will be removed from external web pages outside its control.

Hearing of submissions

If a Hearing is required it may be held face to face, via telephone conference or via video link or a combination of these. You should be aware the IAC may:

• broadcast submissions and proceedings live on the internet
• record submissions and proceedings
• make the recording available on request to submitters and parties to the Hearing and third parties
• publish the recording on the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning website, Engage Victoria website or other Victorian Government website
• use your phone contact details to contact you during a telephone/video hearing as is necessary.

The IAC will direct that parties do not record online hearings or use them for any other purpose. However, the IAC is unable to guarantee that third parties will not be recording online Hearings, and the use of any such recordings outside the hearing context cannot be regulated by the IAC.

All participants are reminded that during the IAC process, the privacy of others should be respected and to refrain from the defamation of others.

After the Inquiry and Advisory Committee has reported

After the IAC has reported to the Minister for Planning your submission will be removed from all public display within six months.

Your original submission and any additional material provided to the IAC will be held at Planning Panels Victoria for two years and then sent to the Public Records Office of Victoria. All additional copies of the submission and other material held by Planning Panels Victoria will be securely destroyed.

If you have any concerns in respect to the way your personal information or submission will be used please contact Planning Panels Victoria on Fingerboards.IAC@delwp.vic.gov.au.