The company says it is now meeting with union members but has applied to Fair Work Australia to have the miners' current agreement terminated.

This comes two weeks after the company locked its workers out for seven days in response to their continued industrial action.

Union executive Lee Webb said the miners were keen to negotiate their enterprise agreement with the company.

``The company has said it is willing to negotiate but it wants to discuss only certain aspects of the agreement,'' he said.

``We think this is unfair and everything should be up for negotiation as per Fair Work Australia laws.

``They've taken a step back now but have still applied to Fair Work to have our current agreement terminated.

``They're really playing hard ball.''

A spokesman for Xstrata said the company had made the application to terminate the current agreement with Fair Trade Australia.

``We are also talking to representatives of the union regarding further discussions with the miners,'' he said. ``We want to get a clear understanding of where both sides are up to.''