State regulator Earth Resources Regulation put the date forward after this week appointing environmental auditing specialists Niboi Consulting and CDM Smith to review rehabilitation plans for the sites in Kangaroo Flat and Woodvale.

The EPA-accredited environmental auditors would then give independent advice on the work needed to make land "safe, stable and sustainable".

The regulator took control of both sites last year after the collapse of financially troubled Kralcopic, the last company licensed to mine Bendigo's fabled goldfield.

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The collapse triggered a chain reaction of events that forced Kralcopic's parent company GBM Gold to be wound up last November.

Liquidators are still considering what to do with GBM Gold's remaining assets, which include several mining and exploring licences around Victoria that are not related to Bendigo sites.

Some miners and investors who once held stakes in GBM Gold entered early discussions with liquidators late last year in the hope of potentially reviving mining operations.

The Advertiser understands talks are yet to progress particularly far.

The newspaper is yet to confirm whether that is because of delays caused by summer holidays or other factors.

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Earth Resources Regulation's new environmental auditors will review two sites including Kangaroo Flat's entrance to the Swan Decline, which is the last viable entrance to Bendigo's underground goldfields and was built in the early 2000s.

The 18km-long tunnel reaches under Bendigo's city centre but much of it has flooded since mine water pumps were switched off about a decade ago.

The entrance could be closed when the site is rehabilitated.

Earth Resources Regulation has also asked environmental auditors to review its measures to keep the site safe since taking over the Kangaroo Flat and Woodvale sites.

Those include measures to suppress potentially arsenic-laden dust from blowing into neighbouring properties.

Many old mine sites contain arsenic, which is only toxic if ingested. The regulator and mining companies have both worked to stop dust blowing off properties in the past.

Environmental auditors will also review $5.9 million worth of bond money past mining companies set aside in case they left without rehabilitating the site.

Earth Resources Regulation says eventual onsite rehabilitation work would likely involve Bendigo-based earthworks and engineering contractors.

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