A worker has been buried in soil and rock after a wall collapse at a mine in the Northern Territory.

A major operation has been under way to find the 59-year-old Darwin man at the Bootu Creek mine, about 110km north of Tennant Creek, since the wall failure on Saturday afternoon.

Tennant Creek police said employees at the manganese ore mine were coordinating the rescue operation with help from its officers.

The condition of the man is unknown and NT Worksafe has been notified.

The mine is owned by the Singapore-based company OM Holdings. It exported the mine’s first shipment of ore in 2006.

In 2013 it was fined $150,000 for desecrating a sacred Aboriginal site at Bootu Creek known as Two Women Sitting Down, in what was described as a landmark ruling.

The ASX-listed business also operates in China, Japan, Malaysia and South Africa.

Some 140 workers lost their jobs in December 2015 when the mine was mothballed and placed into the hands of administrators. It returned to full production last year.

In January, several wagons of manganese ore were lost after a Darwin-bound train coming from the mine derailed near Katherine. The Adelaide-to-Darwin railway line was closed for three days as a result.