A gold mine proposed for Woodside in the Adelaide Hills could harm the region's food and wine production, local businesses and primary producers who are fighting the plan say.

Inverbrackie Creek Catchment Group chairman Jim Franklin-McEvoy said they were worried there could be an adverse tourism impact as the mine site would be adjacent to two big Hills wineries, Petaluma and Bird-in-Hand.

The group said many millions of dollars of annual farmgate turnover could be put at risk if mining proceeded.

Mr Franklin-McEvoy said Adelaide's metropolitan water supply from Mount Bold reservoir could be at risk of contamination from mining activity.

"For the local producers, virtually all of us are irrigators whether that's pasture, tree crops, vines, horticulture and so a lot of those crops, especially say strawberries, are very sensitive to water quality," he said.

"A lot of the rocks here are quite sulfuric so you've got the risk of sulfuric acid production and there's unknown heavy metals there — I mean they can test certain amount of gold and certain amount of other metals there, but you really don't want anything that isn't meant to be there washing into Adelaide's water supply."

Adelaide Hills viticulturist Simon Tolley said he was worried there could be more trucks using the area and that dust stirred up by mining activity could affect vines.

"It will decrease the quality of our valuable resource that we have and it will impact other crops such as strawberries and pasture," he said.

"It needs a community approach where we should all adopt the same philosophy ... for the benefit of the environment and businesses in the area.

"We could get an interrupted supply of water from the change in aquifers from ... drilling and/or explosive work underground."

Mr Tolley said a possible increase in salinity was another concern.

Terramin promises jobs, water monitoring

Miner Terramin Australia general manager Joe Ranford vowed mining would not have an adverse impact for surrounding producers.

"We certainly respect those concerns that people have, the company has spent a lot of time and money to ensure that we understand the aquifer and how the water interacts," he said.

"We have to undertake any plans of mining with regard of how it will impact the environment. The ground water is a big part of that."

Mr Ranford said restoring part of the current site to native vegetation would benefit the local environment.

"Improving the riparian buffer zone on our land will actually improve the water quality in the area. Water quality off-site has to be monitored very carefully," he said.

Terramin said it planned to create 125 jobs in the Woodside and Strathalbyn area and its final plan was expected to be submitted to regulators by the first quarter of next year, although a firm decision was likely to be another two years away.

It said recent drilling of the Bird-in-Hand gold deposit had led to an 8 per cent rise in the projected size of the resource, to 252,000 ounces.