An open-air mine waste facility as big as 30 football ovals is proposed to be built as close as 100 metres from residents' homes.

Residents say they are concerned about the risks to human health and have joined forces — forming the Tailings Dam Community Safety Action Group to fight the development.

The troubled Ballarat Gold Mine applied to the City of Ballarat for a planning permit to construct the 43-hectare tailings storage facility, located about 4 kilometres from the city centre in August last year and the matter is expected to be put before councillors for a decision next week.

High stakes

The future of the Ballarat Gold Mine appears to be resting on the approval of the new tailings storage facility on Woolshed Gully Drive in the Ballarat suburb of Mount Clear, as the current tailings storage facility is at capacity. 

Tailings are a by-product of gold mining, the remaining sand-like substance left after rocks are crushed and gold is removed, which often contain arsenic, a known carcinogen, and other contaminants that can be harmful to human health.

Gold production cannot continue if the mine does not have an approved method to store its tailings and the current approvals are set to expire next year.

The ABC understands the mine has requested council address its application as soon as possible, given the company that operates it has gone into administration and is looking to sell.

Administrator Cameron Shaw, from Hall Chadwick, said in a statement an expression of interest process for potential buyers of the mine had begun and the approval of the tailings facility would increase the likelihood of a successful sale.

The gold mine hosted a community information session on Monday night, allowing objectors who had lodged submissions the opportunity to question mine staff and independent experts about the tailings dam plans.

Mr Shaw said he hoped the session allayed community concerns.

The proposed new tailings facility design is 35 metres high and will provide storage capacity for approximately 10 years.

According to the Ballarat Gold Mine, approximately 95 per cent of tailings are from gravity separation methods, using differences in density to separate gold and quartz as old-time gold miners did with their pans and sluices.

A chemical leaching process using cyanide to extract fine gold from minerals in the ore is used for the remaining tailings, which are pumped as a slurry to the tailings storage facility and stored in dams.

Regulators monitor the safe storage of tailings.

Decision imminent

Dora Pearce, a retired environmental epidemiologist who has analysed cancer incidence associated with soil arsenic concentrations in Victoria's goldfields, said she remained concerned about the health risks of the tailings dam.

Dr Pearce said she wanted councillors to refer the matter to the state's planning minister to consider whether a more extensive assessment of the proposal should be completed through an environment effects statement (EES).

"I don't want the community put at risk of off-site dust emissions that could be highly toxic."

City of Ballarat director of development and growth Natalie Robertson said she had asked the council officer assessing the application to have a report prepared for a council meeting next week.

She said council officers had all information required to make a recommendation on the application and had considered the proposal at length, as it was first lodged in August last year.

The council requested additional information from the mine in the form of a human health impacts assessment and health risks assessment, which was received last fortnight and concluded the tailings dam could be operated without posing an unacceptable risk to health.

Dr Pearce questioned the reliability of the health impact report, highlighting its reliance on substitute data rather than local site-specific data in regard to air quality and its failure to limit the study population to the exposed community, as it also included the next suburb of Mount Helen.

Community concerns

Mount Clear resident Jennifer Geddes lives 330 metres from the Ballarat Gold Mine.

She said she sent a sample of household dust from her vacuum cleaner in February to experts at Macquarie University and their analysis found above-ordinary levels of arsenic in the dust.

"What is the answer to it all at the moment? On a windy day keep your windows closed," Ms Geddes said.

Mount Clear residents James and Annie Treloar said they were not satisfied with the council process for such a massive project so close to a residential area and wanted further assessment and broader community consultation.

"The council letter assumed more knowledge than most people have," Mr Treloar said.

"For anyone uneducated about mining or the process, people wouldn't know what a tailings storage facility is," Ms Treloar said.

Australian Workers' Union organisers Ross Kenna and Mick Derrick said they wanted the council to approve the tailings dam as soon as possible, as it was crucial to the future operation of the mine and job security for more than 200 workers.