Miners at Bowen Basin, jointly-operated by BHP Billiton and Japanese firm Mitsubishi, have walked off from their work details Tuesday night following the collapse of negotiations that union leaders said was caused by management's behaviours.

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) District President Stephen Smyth accused BHP Mitsubishi Alliance of reversing earlier deals that he said were sealed six months ago.

"We're very disappointed that there's two or three courses that we originally agreed to on principle that are now suddenly went from being agreed matters to matters now that in our view are not agreed," Mr Smyth told ABC on Wednesday.

In a communication it sent to union officials, BMA has admitted that the talks, which have been ongoing for more than a year now, have reached a stalemate and left it no choice but to submit another proposed deal into an employee ballot by next month.

But BMA's actions were tantamount to a slap in the face of the mining workers, whose work stoppage in the past 48 hours already disrupted operation of seven mining sites in the area, Mr Smyth said.

The industrial action, the longest so far in decades, has resulted to the build up of cargo ships off the Bower Basin coast, waiting too long for deliveries of coking coals that went untended for days due to the strike.

Bower Basin produces an estimated 20 per cent of the global demand for coking coals, according to ABC.

And Mr Smyth is convinced that workers' collection action would be successful enough in disrupting production activities by another week, long enough to attract more of BMA's attention and possibly that of the government's.

"The level of contempt they're showing for their workers is truly astonishing," Mr Smyth told The Australian, adding that union officials already forwarded officials notices that the strike will be extended as deemed necessary by the prevailing conditions.

Mr Smyth blamed BMA management for practically causing the disruption when "they offered no progress on matters in dispute and instead went back on their word, screwing up clauses that were already agreed to in-principle,"

Prior to the abrupt turnaround on BMA's side, Mr Smyth claimed that union officials have agreed to discuss with management possible remedies that would punt an end to the stand-off.

"Instead, management presented workers with clauses that take negotiations back months by attempting to force employees into family-unfriendly rosters," the union leader said.

"It's now very clear that BHP's corporate headquarters are calling the shots and they seem unconcerned about safety or family-friendly rosters ... For them it's just ensuring they can squeeze all they can from this mining boom ahead of all else," Mr Smyth was quoted by The Australian as saying on Wednesday.

The prospect of immediately resolving the dispute appears remote at this time as employees would likely turn down the alternative deal that BMA said it will present to workers on April, ABC said.