BHP chief executive Marius Kloppers attacked the panel's consultation appointed by Treasurer Wayne Swan on Friday for refusing to disclose the design or key elements of the prosed resource super profits tax.

The panel is scheduled to release the first report on its review on the tax due to the government today.

In a mass email sent to the company's Australian staff, Mr. Kloppers expressed his disappointment that the resources industry is at a “stalemate with the Australian government in relation to the proposed super tax.”

"If the super tax goes ahead it will threaten Australia's competitiveness, jeopardise future investments and adversely affect the future wealth and the living standard for all Australians,” he said.

Ken Henry, the Treasury secretary, told representatives in the Senate Economics Committee hearing yesterday that he has rejected claims that the mining industry has saved Australia from recession.

"Suggestions that mining saved Australia from the recession are spurious to say the least."

Henry said if the rest of the economy have performed as badly as the resource sector during the crisis the national unemployment rate would have increased to 19 per cent. He added that both mining investments and outputs declined.
Dr. Henry's arguments have received negative responses from the mining sector, stating that his comment were “gross misrepresentation” by the Australian Chamber of Minerals and Energy.

"Even in the economy's darkest hour, mining companies were pumping billions into the WA and national economies," an ACME representative said.

Coalition Treasury spokesperson Joe Hockney argued Dr. Henry's statements as “inconsistent.”

"If the mining industry performed so poorly, how is a big new tax going to make things easier?" Mr Hockey said.

Dr. Henry also rejected claims that tax would hit investment, indicating that the resource industry had too much projects on its books to keep busy for the next 30 years or more. He also quips that the mining industry's challenges right now would be the lack of manpower.

Figures released by the Bureau of Statistics yesterday showed that mining industry will lift investment to 60 per cent or more in 2010-11, starting with the Gordon gas project.

The Treasurer said yesterday that consultations with the resource sector are currently ongoing.

The BHP boss also urged other miners that talks with the government should continue.