Andrew Forrest, chief executive officer of Fortescue Metals says that PM Gillard's new tax on mining had placed only a "reasonable framework" for further negotiations.

Mr. Forrest said in a statement that Fortescue was quite disappointed with the new tax negotiations for it only involved the big players of the mining industry.

"While it was disappointing that the outcome was the result of meetings between the government and three big multinational mining companies with no input from local Australian companies, Fortescue believes the draft heads of sgreement provides a reasonable framework for on-going industry consultation," the Fortescue CEO said.

"However, it is very disappointing that right at the time that junior and smaller Australian iron ore and coal miners have managed to develop a foothold into the industry, they are immediately slugged with this proposed new and additional tax."

His statement came when the junior miners complained about the government's new mining tax proposal earlier today.

The world's biggest mining firms were celebrating their "win" when new PM Julia Gillard's government came up with a new tax on mining that the big mining players are happy with.

Xstrata, Rio Tinto, and BHP Billiton seriously negotiated with the government and promptly hailed the new tax proposal as an improvement over the previous contentious mining tax.

Despite the giants claiming a win for the mining industry, the juniors and the mid-tier miners have stated the deal was formulated by the big miners, with the smaller mining firms are left "stuck on the sidelines".