Clive Palmer's company Queensland Nickel is more than $100 million in debt and will need "tens of millions" injected into the company to continue trading beyond April 30, administrators say.

The Townsville refinery went into voluntary administration last week just days after it laid off more than 237 people.

John Park from administrator FTI Consulting on Friday faced a meeting of 480 creditors and staff, which was also attended by politicians including federal MP Bob Katter.

Mr Palmer did not attend, but sent someone else as his proxy.

After the closed meeting, Mr Park held a telephone hook-up to outline the company's situation to reporters.

He said there had been a limited opportunity to verify information, but that unsecured creditors are expected to total between $70 million and $80 million.

Mr Park said there were 1,500 creditors owed money.

On top of that, the company owned more than $30 million in outstanding employee entitlements.

Mr Park said for the 2016 financial year, the company was forecast to produce approx 60 million pounds of nickel at a cash loss of 50 US cents per pound.

Based on this, the company incurred a loss of approximately $US30 million.

Mr Park said FTI was considering a court application to extend the administration period to 60 business days because of the complexity of the company structure and the "forensic investigation required".

He said a committee of 11 creditors was formed, including former and current employees and trade creditors.

"We projected our cash flow to suggest that we're in ability to trade the business in the next one to two months," he said.

Administrator John Park said he could not guarantee that Queensland Nickel would trade after April 30. ( ABC News: Isobel Roe )

"During that timeframe the company will need to be restructured and the business would require a capital injection into the business to subsidise the trading losses currently being incurred based on the current nickel price."

Mr Park said the capital injection would likely be in the order of "tens of millions" but that this was dependent on the price of nickel.

Mr Palmer has previously said he was offering $250 million in Waratah Coal assets as security against which Queensland Nickel could borrow money.

But Mr Park said this figure was "at the upper extreme of the valuation" of the Waratah coal tenement and there was some work to be done yet to decide whether this was of value to Queensland Nickel.

"Essentially it would mean borrowing against coal tenements in a depressed commodity market," he said.

"It's not a solution in the next two weeks and indeed it's a solution that we haven't formed a view whether we're prepared to advance on until we feel comfortable that the documents are in order."

Palmer rejects comments by Prime Minister

Ahead of the creditors meeting, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull slammed Mr Palmer's management of Queensland Nickel.

"His management of Queensland Nickel, from what we know to date, is shocking," Mr Turnbull said.

Mr Palmer rejected the criticism.

"For the Prime Minister to criticise the management of the company indicates how ignorant he really is," Mr Palmer said.

He said he had protected the jobs of the workers of the plant since 2009 when he took over because BHP, the company's previous owner, had planned to shut it down.

Mr Palmer also criticised Mr Turnbull for his reported investments in the Cayman Islands, saying the Prime Minister was "supporting the Cayman Islands economy".