Company liquidators lodged papers with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission on May 14 "to disclaim Kralcopic's freehold land at Woodvale Ponds and parcels of land around the company's former Bendigo mine sites", Earth Resources Regulation said.

It means the sites will revert to being classed as Crown land, allowing rehabilitation work to start.

The regulator said it expected the transfer of ownership to take effect immediately.

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"Earth Resources Regulation has stepped in to deliver the rehabilitation of Kralcopic's former mine sites around Bendigo," the agency's executive director Anthony Hurst said.

"We'll ensure the site maintenance and rehabilitation obligations at the former mine sites are upheld to protect public health and safety.

"We will continue to keep Woodvale residents and the Bendigo community informed as we prepare to rehabilitate the former mine sites."

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Rehabilitation work follows a long battle over the future of mining in the Bendigo goldfield, which was once the richest in the world.

Investors and companies have long speculated there are untapped supplies of the precious metal under the city, but some community representatives in Bendigo and Woodvale have lobbied for years for the sites to be closed and cleaned up.

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