Geoscience Australia has confirmed a suspected earthquake detected near Ballarat was in fact a routine blast at a quarry.
The federal body put out a notification on Tuesday to declare a 1.8 magnitude earthquake had been detected in Ballarat.
Seismologists then reviewed the information, advising that the disturbance was actually caused by a scheduled blast at a basalt quarry.
Geoscience Australia's Jonathan Bathgate said it was something the organisation tried to avoid.
"Part of our work is to report on naturally occurring earthquakes and not mining activity," he said.
Six hundred earthquakes are detected across Australia each year, most commonly in south-west Western Australia and the south-east corner of Victoria.
"What we try to avoid is having mining activity or man-made activity contaminate our earthquake catalogue," Mr Bathgate said.
"There is quite a lot of seismic activity in Australia, and in areas where there is mining activity as well, so it can be difficult."
A spokesman for Boral, the operators of the Dunnstown quarry, said the blast was part of a routine basalt extraction and was at no greater intensity than normal.
