FORTESCUE Metal Group's Andrew Forrest has revealed that former prime minister Kevin Rudd reached agreement with several mining companies on changes to the proposed resource rent tax before he was dumped.

Mr Forrest said Fortescue was one of several companies that reached agreement with Mr Rudd's office on releasing a discussion paper to the mining industry, just days before he was removed.

"We had reached a set of points which I think the prime minister was happy with, the mining industry would have been prepared to discuss and that was all taken off the table before it could be announced," Mr Forrest said in Perth yesterday. "It was a shame really that it got cut off so violently."

Mr Forrest's comments contradict the mining industry's previous position that consultation had been useless and a waste of time.

Mr Forrest detailed key aspects of what would have been in the government's discussion paper, including: