A 2.75 per cent royalty on gold extracted in the state officially kicked in on January 1, with the industry still hoping to galvanise support to block it.

The state government meanwhile is staying firm with the tax, which applies to mines that produce more than 2,500 ounces each year.

The shadow treasurer Louise Staley - who is also the member for Ripon - said she wanted an upper house "disallowance motion" to put the buffers on the tax.

Along with mining industry leaders, she is hoping a broad section of crossbenchers will join the Liberal Party in opposition.

Ms Staley called the royalty an attack on the regions, and said the motion would be put forward in the Legislative Council when state parliament sits in February.

"We really hope that the crossbenchers understand that this is not done lightly, it's done because the industry has said to us repeatedly that the structure of this gold tax was [done] without consultation," she said.

Advocates for the sector say they do not oppose a royalty in principle, but have pushed strongly for measures to soften the impact, including allowing exploration costs to be offset.

The Treasury has stood fast, saying the royalty helps Victorians secure a fair return from the minerals extracted.

It points to the booming gold price (around $2,170 per ounce), and the fact that gold has been the only mineral exempt from royalties.

The royalty rate would still be one of the lowest in the country, and Victoria would be "the last jurisdiction in Australia" with a gold royalty, a Treasury spokesperson has previously told The Courier.

However, for Elizabeth Lewis-Gray, the founder of Gekko Systems, a mining technology company that works closely with Ballarat mine, the emphasis on the gold price is a distraction.

"The gold price goes up and down so that's no comfort to us," Ms Lewis-Gray told The Courier.

While she said that while the gold price was good for the mine at the moment, that could quickly change - and put the long-term future of the mine in danger.

She warned the loss of well paid, highly skilled jobs in the area would have a big impact on the community.

"It's part of an innovation ecosystem - if we lost that, it would be a real blow to the business. It would have a significant impact on our bottom line."

"Victoria is in the middle of a gold rush at the moment. We really want to make the most of this for the state and make sure the small mining countries that are marginal don't end up shutting down."

She said the royalty would put pressure particularly on smaller operations such as the Stawell gold mine and the Mandalay Resources in Bendigo.

Since the royalty was introduced, new owners have picked up LionGold, the owners of Castlemaine Goldfields which operates the Ballarat mine.

Stephen Jeffers, general manager of Castlemaine Goldfields, said at the time of the announcement he hoped the buyout would bring greater investment and returns to the mine.

Speaking to The Courier on Thursday, he said he still did not know the mechanics of how the royalty would work, but estimated it would cost the Ballarat mine around $ 2million each year.

The mine employs around 160 direct employees as well as a large number of contract workers and others dependent on its production.

He also said less gold would come out of the mine overall as they would concentrate efforts on extracting higher grades of the valuable metal.

Mr Jeffers hopes the disallowance motion would work and force a rethink. "Ideally they would come back and just negotiate properly," he said.

A spokesperson for local member for Buninyong Michaela Settle confirmed on Thursday that the government's position on the royalty had not changed.

Minister for Resources Jaclyn Symes said: "Victorian taxpayers deserve a fair share of the profits made from extracting gold from their land - this royalty brings us in line with every other state and all other minerals extracted in Victoria."

Ms Symes said the government would keep working with the resources industry and local communities to make sure the gold industry continued to grow.

May 2019: State government announces royalty.

June: Gold industry says tax could close mines.

August: Industry proposes softening measures.

September: Liongold, owners of the Ballarat mine, is taken over by Chinese investors.

November: Upper House MP Stuart Grimley adds voice to concern about royalty.

January 1, 2020: Royalty kicks in across Victoria.