Castlemaine Goldfields Limited acknowledges and accepts its responsibilities to both the Community and the Environment in all areas in which exploration activities are undertaken. Activities have increasingly focused on the Chewton district, within the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park and northward into the pine plantation.

Whilst exploring in the National Park does present some additional environmental considerations, good progress has been achieved through this period. Much of this has been due to the continued development of sound and harmonious working relationships with representatives fromParks Victoria, their associates within Heritage Victoria and the Earth Resources Division of the Department of Primary Industry.

The company has a very good record of conducting exploration without environmental incidents of any significance. Community concerns have been expressed regarding the increase of traffic on some of the gravel roads leading into the Pine Plantation but this issue has largely been offset by the company undertaking regular water spraying of the critical areas during the drier summer period. Continued weed control programs, rehabilitation projects and assistance with local Fireguard activities are also helping to maintain the ongoing sound relationship with the community.

Water availability is critical to all aspects of the operation and investigations are underway to assess the feasibility of clarifying and recycling the waters from the Wattle Gully shaft for use at the drill sites and for dust suppression. Early indications are that a simple low cost treatment process will bring the water to the acceptable EPA standard for ongoing use by the company.

In 2008, based on a submission put forward by the company, Heritage Victoria expanded the heritage listing from 5 individual structures at the Wattle Gully site to encompass the broader Wattle Gully mine site. This listing now clarifies a number of aspects relating to the ongoing maintenance and rehabilitation of the site. The company will work with Parks Victoria going forward to ensure the mining history contained at Wattle Gully is preserved for public interest.

Articles in the local community paper and a feature entry on the paper's web site have been the preferred methods of general communication with local Chewton residents, but for more specific exploration issues, door knocking and letter dropping continues to be practiced. Community meetings are also held providing opportunity for the company to demonstrate performance against the announced 'Pathway to Production' as well as providing community members with an opportunity to raise questions.