Families and couples in the mining industry are sometimes struggling to develop healthy sex lives, says one of the industry's leading support groups.

In an address to the Queensland Mining Expo, Mining Family Matters director Alicia Ranford said with couples where only one person was in the mining sector different schedules sometimes made sex difficult.

"There might be some issues with different libidos and that's causing relationship problems with a lot of mining families around Australia," she said.

While being careful not to generalise Ranford said quite often male workers felt sexually ignored when they returned home from fly-in fly-out work.

"There are arguments about sex which unfortunately spiral downward so the wife at home does all sorts of things to make sure she doesn't put out as much," she said.

Ranford said establishing a healthy sex life was not an issue that first occurred to the Mining FM team but feedback from the community had proved it was an issue in the industry.

"We really encourage couples to talk and communicate about these issues and figure out what works for both of you," she said.

In her address Ranford also spoke about the importance of FIFO workers keeping in touch with their friends and families while they were away.

She said couples should also create a 'united front' in tackling family and relationship problems, instead of creating different solutions while one person was away at work.