The Minerals Council of Australia will on Tuesday unveil its industrial reform blueprint including proposals to suppress industrial action, limit areas covered by enterprise bargaining and expand the freedom to use contract labour.

The federal government has so far been reluctant to embrace similar proposals recommended by the Australian Productivity Commission.

The Minerals Council argues that employees above a high-income threshold should be able to choose between an enterprise agreement and an individual employment agreement.

Greater use of individual contracts was one of the most controversial aspects of the WorkChoices regime.

Energy sector advocate, Martin Ferguson, a former Labor resources minister and ACTU boss, helped develop the policy and says the Fair Work Act's high-income threshold of $142,000 for unfair dismissal claims could be adopted.

"This would reinstate individual agreements as a vehicle for achieving a flexible and motivated workforce, for boosting performance and productivity - and for rewarding employees with well-paid individually tailored employment agreements," Mr Ferguson said.

The average mining employee earns $140,000 a year according to the Minerals Council, which says the industry employs 484,114 people directly and another 655,654 indirectly. It warns these jobs are possible only if Australia remains a reliable, cost-competitive supplier of mineral resources.

Its new policy statement, likely to meet strong opposition from unions, also recommends restricting their right of entry provisions and removing the ability for workers to take protected industrial action over business decisions.

The scope of bargaining agreements would also be confined to direct employment matters, which, for example, would likely prevent workers from protesting against a decision to replace them with contract labour.

The sector is also arguing for reform to greenfields agreements, including the introduction of life-of-project agreements.

Andrew Stewart, professor of law from Adelaide University, says the mining industry has long argued for the restoration of industrial powers it had enjoyed under the Howard government's abandoned WorkChoices legislation.

Professor Stewart said the Productivity Commission has recommended narrowing the scope of enterprise agreements and introducing life-of-project agreements for greenfields sites.

He questioned whether the government would now adopt the policies after sitting on the Productivity Commission recommendations for more than 18 months.

"We are now four years into a Coalition government which had a clear basis for pursuing some of these reforms and hasn't acted," he said.

???He said the mining industry proposals would make it harder for unions to operate in their industry and free up the outsourcing of labour, potentially driving down wages.

Ensuring enterprise agreements deal with direct employment matters would effectively prevent employees from bargaining for their own job security.