Wildlife advocate Jenifer James said after year-long efforts to rehabilitate wildlife and the bush in the fire-struck area, the licence wasn't wanted.

"This potential ELA could cut across the koala corridor from Biamanga to Gulaga ... and it will affect catchments to the Bermagui River," Ms James said.

She added fisheries in the catchment could be deeply impacted by any future mining efforts.

A spokeswoman for the mining company said it was a one-year exploration licence targeting gold and copper deposits.

"Should the exploration licence be granted, the initial exploration work will start from desktop technical review of history data and reports," she said.

"If the land access is needed, approval from landholder and the State Government will be required before accessing any private land."

Given the short-term nature of the licence application, lodged on November 20, the spokeswoman said no high-impact activity is planned, but potential future works would comply with all legal requirements.

"The applicant will ensure compliance to all legislative requirements and keep the environmental disturbance to minimum level, and will ensure rehabilitation is properly conducted in accordance with the State's guidelines."

Ms James said she hoped to see the application fail as the target area is a key area for wildlife.

"It's such a small strip of food left. It's a really narrow strip for animals to give birth, feed and produce and carry on. "This area is in such distress and we don't need this. That's the truth"

Ms James acknowledged a successful licence application could result in no works going ahead at all, but the uncertainty alone was a risk.

"It could cause more insecurity or grief to the community or impact house prices -the repercussions of that uncertainty could be horrific."

A spokesman for the Department of Regional NSW said relevant information in favour or against the licence should be lodged soon at resource.operations@planning.nsw.gov.au.