HUMAN remains found in bushland near Wollongong are those of a 27-year-old Chinese student who disappeared five months ago.

Police said yesterday they were treating the case as a homicide. Colliery workers found the body, concealed about 30 metres down a Bellambi Colliery access road off Mount Ousley Road, on Friday.

Detective Superintendent John Alt, from the Asian Crime Squad, said the man had been living in inner Sydney before being reported missing by two friends on March 4.

He said police were in contact with the family of the man, who was in the country on a visa, ''and that will be followed up as part of the investigation''.

Police were not able to say how long the body had been at the site.

''There were some circumstances of him going missing that were of concern. It hasn't been until recently that we were able to confirm the location of the body [and] that he is in fact deceased,'' Mr Alt said. ''There'd been obvious efforts to conceal the body from being located.''

Detectives from the State Crime Command, Police Rescue and forensics officers were at the scene yesterday afternoon.

The grisly find followed the discovery of the remains of a 33-year-old woman in Pheasants Nest last week.

Mr Alt said police were treating the latest death as an isolated incident and he believed there were no links between the two deaths.