Fosterville's gold mine dug up a feverishly high 640,467 ounces of gold in 2020.

But the best veins of underground gold were already gone last year and the mine was only able to hit record highs because it sifted through 20 per cent more dirt and rock.

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Still, mine owner Kirkland Lake Gold has told investors it hopes to dig up between 400,000 - 425,000 ounces in 2021.

Miners also told investors that it now cost more to mine in Victoria because the government had introduced a new 2.75 per cent royalty.

The government introduced the royalty as Victoria's big miners experience something of a gold renaissance.

A number including Fosterville are now highly profitable.

Fosterville's miners expect to keep exploring the edges of the gold fields they already know exist.

Miners expect to fork out somewhere between $85 - $95 million in Fosterville's largest ever exploration spend.

They will sink exploration drills through an estimated 232,000 metres of ground in the search for "high grade" veins of gold.

The miners want to build on highly successful exploration results last year which found quartz with visible gold in four different underground rock systems around Fosterville.

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