Modern-day gold mining company Huntly Common wants to comb dried-out sludge for as much as 110,000 ounces of gold each year as well as mercury and industrial sand.

It has asked planners to give it feedback on environmental plans for the site. A green-light at this stage would not guarantee the project would go ahead but would be critical given its potential for significant environmental effects.

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Miners want to clean up four million tonnes of old mine sediment across 168 hectares of land in and around Huntly Streamside Reserve.

The sludge layer is on average a metre-and-a-half deep and is laced with mercury and arsenic which 19th century miners left for the creek to wash away.

The arsenic came out of tailings brought up from deep below Bendigo's surface.

The mercury was used by miners as they crushed and processed rock on the surface. The liquid metal absorbed gold and rock impurities, creating an easy-to-spot chemical reaction.

Sludge became a huge problem in the 19^th century because of its impact on agricultural land. Some accounts from the 1850s suggest sludge washed up as far as 100 miles from Bendigo.

The pollution became so bad it was the subject of an 1858 royal commission.

In the decades that followed, Bendigo miners built drainage systems that emptied into the reserve.

Yet that just moved the problem out of town and left clay-like caps that one environmentalist with knowledge of the area said could be up to five metres thick in the middle of the creek's original water course.

Multiple companies have kicked around plans to dig up the public reserve since 1987.

Their ideas have occasionally caused controversy.

For example, in 2018 several Huntly residents raised concerns about the amenity of an area which attracted horse riders, walkers, four-wheel driving and other recreational activities.

A group of residents created a petition about six months ago voicing their concerns - especially about sections of farming land that could be included in the project - but are understood to be content to keep waiting while a response is formed.

Huntly Common has told the planning minister it is still negotiating with nearby owners over whether private land would be included.

Huntly Common said 100 hectares of native vegetation plus introduced flora would have to be cleared to allow workers to dig.

The Northern Bendigo Landcare Group met with mining executives at the creek last week, committee member Aldo Pembrook said.

"They seem to be very genuine in wanting to rehabilitate areas as they go about strip-mining," he said.

"They've offered us the option to be involved in the rehab, where they supply the materials and listen to community input on how to go about it."

Like other groups familiarising itself with the plans, the Landcare group is considering its position on the plans and is yet to gauge its members' thoughts.

Huntly Common told the planning minister it had also consulted with Traditional Owners at the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation, which has long wanted to heal areas of the Bendigo Creek it regards as "upside down Country".

Huntly Common had sent a heritage assessment team in to the area last July to dig test holes as it prepared a cultural heritage management plan. They did not find anything of cultural significance.

The company conceded it was possible it could find Aboriginal artifacts within layers of sludge but noted they would likely have appeared in the area after colonisation had begun and would probably be less culturally significant.

The Aboriginal corporation is considering the draft cultural plan, the company told the minister.

Huntly Common hopes to start working near the creek in 2022. The dried up sludge would be transported to a purpose-built facility on a nearby property for processing.