MINERS will continue to probe every corner of Victoria seeking their fortunes.

The search goes on for more mineral sands in the Mallee and Gippsland, gold in the Western District and central Victoria, and copper in Gippsland.

It comes as the world's richest woman, Gina Rinehart, last week bought a 18.6 per cent stake in Gippsland oil and gas exploration company Lakes Oil despite Victoria's moratorium on fracking approvals.

Hancock Prospecting chief development officer, John Klepec said this could likely change in future.

''That (moratorium) has to run its course, but across Australia other state governments have done the same thing, which is fair enough. They have to run these things to ground and we think there will be a similar positive outcome,'' Mr Klepec said.

Seven companies have recently applied to the State Government for five-year exploration licences to continue their search for precious metals.

Victorian Farmers Federation president Peter Tuohey said mining is often good for rural communities.

"They offer jobs, investment and sometimes the landowners themselves can get an extra income but we must always be sure they are not too intrusive of farmers' rights.''

Perth-based Oroya Mining will spend almost $500,000 drilling more than a dozen holes in the Sunday Creek area north of Orbost.

Oresome Australia, based in Brisbane, continues to hunt for mineral sands in the Culloden-Straford area near Maffra.

Oresome now wants a five-year licence to search 169 sq km in the Wellington and East Gippsland shires for mineral sands but its main focus is still Cape York in northern Australia.

Another West Australian miner, Iluka Resources, successfully developed mineral sands deposits across northwest Victoria and southern NSW.

The company now wants to find more ancient sea beds in the Koorlong-Thurla areas west of Mildura.

Iluka plans to extend its stay after its Ouyen, Euston and Balranald deposits are exhausted.

Yet another Perth-based miner, Predictive Discovery plans to continue its drilling operations in the Skipton area looking for gold.

The company said it regarded the Skipton search as ``high risk but potentially high reward''.

"It is located in a fertile gold belt that has yielded a very large quantity of gold from predominantly high grade ore deposits.''

Local miner Highlake Resources has looked for nickel near Stawell and now wants to search for gold east of Dunolly.

Another Melbourne-based explorer, AGD Operations wants to try its luck for gold near Heathcote.

Leviathan Resources at Stawell wants to widen its drilling operation for gold to include a 496 square kilometre chunk of farmland east of Horsham.