The 40 square kilometre area is an old silver mining site located 10 kilometres west of Kempsey on Armidale Rd between the Boonanghi State Conservation Area and the Macleay River.

The Silver Mine Creek Mine was an underground arsenic, lead, silver and zinc mine.

Technical advisor and director of Endeavour Silver, Mart Rampe, said the application has been lodged to investigate the potential for a mining site.

"There have been a number of applications lodged all over NSW for areas that have a history of being a mining site for gold or sliver," he said.

"The price of gold and silver has risen dramatically over the past year which has attracted companies to open up more mining sites in areas that have a history of mining activity."

If the application is approved, it would allow Endeavour Silver to take rock, soil and water samples from the site to investigate whether there is potential for further mining activity.

"The application only allows for us to take samples for testing, it doesn't mean there will be mining activity there until it's established if there are enough minerals at the site to commence drilling," Mr Rampe said.

"It's a process driven by success in finding enough minerals at the sites."

The licence would allow the company to drill to a certain depth to find out if there are enough minerals to lead to a commercial mining site.

A geologist of 45 years, Mr Rampe said while exploration could take place if the application is approved, the consent of property owners is required for entry onto private land.

"The company has to have the property owners written consent before entering private property and landowners will be compensated if there were any issues that might occur from the activity, such as drilling," he said.

"It's very highly regulated, the company wants to do the right thing."

Mr Rampe said they are expecting the exploration application to be approved within the next four to six weeks.

"It's still in the department system at the moment and we're hoping it will be approved shortly."

An exploration licence gives the holder the exclusive right to explore for the specified mineral group(s) within the exploration licence area, during the term of the licence.

The purpose of exploration is to locate areas where mineral resources may be present, to establish the quality and quantity of those resources and to investigate the viability of extracting the resource.

The granting of an exploration licence does not give any right to mine, nor does it guarantee a mining lease will be granted with the exploration licence area.

The normal rights associated with private ownership of property are protected under NSW legislation. Landholders who host exploration on their land can also expect the following rights and protections: