AIM-listed ECR Minerals holds tenements covering 7km of what it calls the Dimocks Main Shale (DMS), which hosts strata-bound auriferous quartz veins.
The central goldfields region, along with Bendigo, drove the Victorian gold rush of the mid-19th century.
ECR was handed the two licences by geologist Rodney Boucher after another company gave up the rights.
The formerly-Philippines focused company said it had counted around 300 historic shafts along the DMS' 15km length, and believed the shale was a "potential contributing source" to the alluvial gold mined up until the early 20th century.
There is still an underground operation in the centre of Ballarat, producing around 40,000 ounces per annum.
CEO Craig Brown was bullish about the DMS's potential despite only doing mapping so far.
"We are excited by this discovery of a potentially large gold system at Creswick which has been identified by our technical team, led by Dr Rodney Boucher, and is the outcome of many years of detailed study," he said.
"The confirmation of a system which potentially feeds into two established gold producing areas is very exciting for the team; and an area of targeted future exploration.
"Further work is required to substantiate our findings and quantify the extent of gold mineralisation, but without doubt, the Creswick licences are now a key project for the company."
London investors were interested enough to send ECR's share price up 30% to 1.04p.
