But, there has been criticism that Prime Minister Julia Gillard – who ended the war between the Federal Government and miners eight days after taking the helm – only involved giant

companies BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata in talks.

Anglo-American, which operates the Drayton open cut mine near Muswellbrook, was among mining companies to state that it looked forward to the creation of a “policy transition group” to iron out details of the tax.

In a deal that ended a two-month standoff, the Resources Super Profits Tax has had $1.5 billion revenue chopped from it and it has been renamed the Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT).

The tax will apply to iron ore and coal and will be capped at 30 per cent, down from the originally proposed 40 per

cent, and will now only apply to 320 companies instead of 2500.

It will still generate about 90 per cent of predicted revenue.

In a joint statement, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata said they were “encouraged” by the plan which would not be retrospective and would apply only to iron ore and coal resources from July 1, 2012.

They said the deal removed uncertainty over existing expansion plans.

But smaller companies have said there is no incentive for exploration and no deductability for infrastructure investments.

To offset the loss of an anticipated $1.5 billion, the government will cut the company tax rate to 29 percent from 2013-14.

Member for Hunter Joel Fitzgibbon said the proposal would more “fairly and efficiently” tax mining profits.

He said the deal would provide infrastructure funding for mining regions.

NSW Minerals Council CEO Dr Nikki Williams said NSW produced 42 per cent of Australia’s black coal and the State’s mining communities should get their fair share of infrastructure funding.

“People talk about Queensland and Western Australia as the resource states, but NSW is a big player too,” Dr Williams said.

“The proposed new tax will be applied to coal and iron ore, making NSW a major contributor to the Federal Budget bottom line given that this State produces 42 per cent of the country’s black coal.”

Mining union CFMEU has also backed calls for mining towns to receive a bigger share of royalties to fund

community infrastructure.