Farmers and miners agree on just one thing about the Glenaladale Fingerboards mineral sands proposal: the facts speak for themselves.
The problem is that both sides point to different facts.
Kalbar Resources proposes to extract 170 million tonnes of ore to produce around 6Mt of heavy mineral concentrate over 20 years from 1100 hectares of land adjoining the Mitchell River.
The mine offers 197 ongoing jobs for the region but local farmers say it may cost the community dearly.
Farmers dressed as carrots, pea pods and corn will take fears about contamination of the Lindenow food basin and water security to Melbourne's CBD this week to raise public awareness.
After years of heated debate dividing the community around Bairnsdale, Kalbar Resources expects to release the Environment Effects Statement (EES) in mid-July.
One of those keen to read the EES is John Alexander, whose 760-hectare farm borders the eastern side of the proposed site.
Some of his worries are personal.
"Will noise and dust force us to move from my home and my parents' home?" he asked.
"By year seven, it will be within two kilometres of their home and I don't know if we'll be able to bear the sheer quantity of dust and the noise, even if it is within Kalbar's guidelines.
"For 12 months, I've been pushing for models of what it will be like in the seventh year and they haven't been able to provide them."
Other worries revolve around the impact on the family business.
The Alexanders irrigate 130 hectares of pasture from the Mitchell River to feed the family's prime lamb and Angus beef cattle.
"We're competing with the mine for resources," he said.
"Kalbar started off saying it wants 4 gigalitres of water but now it's saying three.
"Either way, the river's fully allocated unless you count winter fill."
Mr Alexander said he and other farmers were still waiting for the result of applications submitted in 2011 after 6GL of new winterfill availability was identified.
Nobody seems to know why those winterfill licences have not been issued but thresholds set by the regulator, Southern Rural Water, may provide the answer.
"Passing flows at the Glenaladale gauge site must also be at a minimum of 1400 ML per day before licences can be activated," its Local Management Plan for the Mitchell River states.
Just how often that condition has been satisfied during the recent stretch of dry years is not on the public record.
"If the mine enters the market and is successful in obtaining their 3-4GL of winterfill licence, it will be one of the single biggest extractors in the Mitchell River basin and that has to impact water availability and force the prices up for local farmers," Mr Alexander said.
But Kalbar Resources stakeholder engagement consultant Martin Richardson was dismissive.
"Our estimate is that we'll need 3GL and that's all we'll apply for," Mr Richardson said.
"The water market is a very, very large market - the allocation is something like 18GL, so 3GL in the scheme of things is not a large number.
"The mine can use winter fill from the Mitchell River and/or the Latrobe Aquifer.
"It's obviously possible to purchase from an existing licence holder and we have been talking to some owners of allocations."
Asked whether Southern Rural Water had been contacted regarding supply for the mine, a spokesperson said Kalbar had indicated its intention to apply for a licence for water from the Mitchell River.
"However, Southern Rural Water will not consider any application until after the completion of the EES process," the spokesperson said.
"This application would also need to be considered as part of a broader and transparent water sales process to allocate the available winterfill entitlements in the Mitchell River."
The mine would need the water to make slurry for the separation of the minerals from the sand and to keep stockpiles wet - a significant undertaking.
"Basically, there are two pits, each about 60ha, making a total of 120ha exposed," Mr Richardson said.
"You put 95pc of the ore back in the pit every two to three years.
"Including 60ha of tailing storage and car parks, that means there's a total of 280ha of disturbed area at any one time."
Much of the proposed mine's water use would be for dust suppression and it is the prospect of contaminant-laden dust that bothers the site's closest neighbour most.
"My place is about 600m from the site," farmer John Hine said.
Mr Hine and wife Carmel grow broccoli, cauliflowers and sweet corn for Australia's big supermarkets and lucerne for dairy farmers as well as grazing beef cattle.
He has not broached the possibility of the mine with his customers.
"What would I say to them?" Mr Hine said.
"It's all a lot of unknowns but I do know what would happen if my product was contaminated - I'd just be shut out of the market."
One of the contaminants that concerns Mr Hine is titanium dioxide.
While Kalbar's Martin Richardson describes it as a common ingredient used to pigment everything from paint to lipstick, Mr Hine points to reports that titanium dioxide may be a carcinogen.
Indeed, the European Chemicals Agency has concluded that titanium dioxide may cause cancer if inhaled, new research by Sydney University suggests titanium dioxide nanoparticles may "impact human health" and France has announced it will ban titanium dioxide food additives.
Even so, Mr Richardson says, there is no reason for concern as the heavy metals remain bound to the sands.
"We do acknowledge there are people opposed to the project but we think the best approach is to study the evidence," Mr Richardson said.
But farmers like Mr Hine and Mr Alexander say many questions remain unanswered.
"I'm a business person - I'm not stupid - I looked at both sides for 12 months before I came to the conclusions that there just aren't enough 'fors' to outweigh the 'againsts'," Mr Hine said.
"I'm working on this two or three days a week now, going to meetings, putting signs up and so on.
"It's very stressful. It's divided the local community something fierce.
"Some people want it because they hope there will be jobs."
On that, Martin Richardson agrees.
Research commissioned by Kalbar in November last year found 65pc of surveyed East Gippsland residents were "yet to make up their minds" while 14pc were "for it" and 21pc opposed the mine.
But Mine-free Glenadale supporter Debbie Carruthers takes a different view.
"There is no social licence for this mine to proceed as evidenced by the over 4600 petition signatures being lodged in parliament on Wednesday, the over 3000 signatures on Change.org petitions and the fact that 82pc of the directly impacted landholders want their land mineral sands mining free," she said.
While not all the land required by the mine has been secured, Mr Richardson has a stark reminder for landholders holding out.
"You may own what's on the land but the minerals under the ground are owned by the Commonwealth," he said.
"Mining companies are able to explore and extract wherever they hold a licence.
"The process of mediation and arbitration is about payment, not access."
In any case, Mr Hine and Mr Alexander will be among the farmers in Melbourne this Wednesday to build consumer awareness of their concerns.
"The only way of protecting our farms is to stop the mine," Mr Hine said.
"This is a magic area and we produce the cleanest, greenest veg in the country and we want to keep it that way."
The #stopkalbar protest will take place on the steps of parliament this Wednesday.
The final community meeting before the EES is released will be held on Thursday evening at the Lindenow hall.