Mr Forrest claimed Fortescue was one of several companies that reached agreement with Mr Rudd's office on making public a discussion paper to the mining industry just days before he was replaced.

His comments contradict the mining industry's previous position that consultation efforts were useless and a waste of time. Mr Forrest listed key aspects of what would have been in the government's discussion paper:

Increasing the rate at which the new tax kicks in from 6 per cent to 15 per cent.

Doubling a project's capital base on which the 15 per cent increase would apply - reducing the impact of making the tax retrospective.

Ensuring the taxing point for projects was at the point the minerals are extracted.

Allowing the industry an immediate write-off for new capital.

Removing the 40 per cent government guarantee to subsidise project losses.

Full transferability of tax liability across projects.

Mr Forrest called on the government to improve on the privately drafted revised proposal if any progress in the negotiations was to be made. "It would be a great shame if the finalised outcome of any negotiations between the Gillard government and the mining industry were anything less than what was achieved while Mr Rudd was PM, otherwise his departure will be recognised as futile,'' he said.

BHP Billiton has maintained that the four changes that must be made include applying the tax prospectively, ensuring it is globally competitive, varying the tax by commodity and applying it to the resource itself and not infrastructure, processing or other supporting activities.

As the cabinet met yesterday to discuss how the government would relieve its mining headache, BHP, Rio Tinto and Xstrata were in Canberra with government officials before further talks today. One well-placed industry source said there were ''rays of hope'' for a workable deal.