Sounds of bleating goats and snorting pigs fill the air if you approach Danielle Mitchell's property on the shores of Lake Gairdner on a lazy weekend afternoon.
She says it is different during the week, however, when drilling rigs are in operation on the hill just beside her property in Tasmania's north-west.
"When they're moving the diggers, it does reverberate through our house and the property," Ms Mitchell says.
"At this stage they are only drilling. They haven't even started any earthworks."
The resource the miners are searching for is called fluorspar.
Also known as fluorite, the mineral is traditionally utilised during smelting and in the production of glass and enamels, but it is increasingly being used in batteries for electric vehicles.
Fellow Moina resident Bianca Curtis says she has noticed the exploration's impact on the usually peaceful valley.
"You've got big trucks on the road and they're damaging the road," she says.
"Some of the workers are driving pretty quickly too. Maybe they think no-one's down here."
Mineral of the future
The company conducting the exploration, Mazel Resources, says it plans to apply for a mining lease soon once the current exploration phase is concluded.
"We've dug about 10 holes of about 30 planned ones," company spokesperson John Miedecke says.
"It's exploration, trying to define an ore body."
"Next year, we'll have a bit of an idea of the way it's going to be mined — it probably will be via open pit [as] that's the only way you can mine these types of ore bodies."
Mr Miedecke says Lake Gairdner will not become a dump for mining waste, should a processing plant be built on the site, and a tailings dam will be built instead.
A new opportunity
The planned development is a chance at a fresh start for mining magnate Joseph Gutnick, who founded Mazel Resources in 2020.
The former Melbourne Football Club president declared himself bankrupt during 2016 but still carries the nickname "Diamond Joe" due to his previous gold and diamond finds.
He also holds a mining lease over an old gold mine site close to Moina, but this is his first attempt at producing fluorspar.
The mineral is tipped to be one of the most in-demand resources of the future.
Over half of the world's fluorspar production takes place in China, while Mexico also has major deposits.
Despite her concerns, Ms Mitchell acknowledges the opportunity at hand.
"I understand that moving forward to a more electrified world the demand for these type of products is only going to increase," she says.
"I don't want to lose our property, but the other side of the coin is that I can understand the need for these minerals as well."
A 'strongly mineralised area'
Before any full mining lease can be approved, however, Mr Gutnick's company will need to meet requirements put in place by the local council and the Environmental Protection Authority.
Mineral Resources Tasmania chief government geologist Andrew McNeill will be involved in any future granting of a mining lease.
He acknowledges that while the area around Lake Gairdner is picturesque, it does have a long mining history.
"Whilst it's quite a pretty area, it's not wilderness by any stretch of the imagination," Mr McNeill says.
"There's been a lot of human activity over the last 100 years or so.
"It is a strongly mineralised area and people have been looking at it for quite a long time."
Lake Gairdner is also an active part of a hydro-electricity scheme that transfers water to nearby Lake Cethana to create power.
"It's not a completely natural lake," Mr McNeill says.
"That's also part of the other activities that happen in the area, like forestry and agriculture."
'Wildlife all around me'
But for Ms Curtis, who moved into the area eight years ago, the Lake Gairdner valley is a "beautiful place" that she never wants to leave.
"I live here because it's quiet and my neighbours are amazing and I've got wildlife all around me," she says.
Ms Curtis looks out over the lake from her kitchen and says her property is home to pademelons, platypus, echidnas and native rats called rakali.
She is concerned that if a mine is built, their habitat will be destroyed and she will be forced to sell up and move.
"Our way of life is at risk," Ms Curtis says.
"We're concerned about the dust and the impact on the area if a mine goes ahead.
"The noise and the impact on the environment would be devastating."
Awaiting formal correspondence
All Moina residents that the ABC spoke to said they were yet to receive any formal correspondence about Mazel Resources' future mining plans or about the current impact on the community.
It is a situation that Mr Miedecke admits could have been managed better.
"We're wide open to talk to people," he says.
"We probably should have done it a bit earlier but at the moment everyone is so busy."
Mr Miedecke says a letter is coming out and may have been "dropped today".
"We've been talking about it for a couple of weeks," he says.
