Administrators of the collapsed Ellendale Diamond Mine in Western Australia's Kimberley have told creditors they are owed millions of dollars.

About 100 disgruntled workers and contractors attended a creditors meeting in Perth today.

The mine, which produced about half of the world's supply of rare yellow diamonds, went into voluntary administration last week.

Administrator Jirsch Sutherland told the meeting it did not yet know how much money was owed to employees, but $13.5 million remained outstanding to creditors.

Workers have not been paid and contractors claim they are owned millions of dollars.

About 100 workers are affected.

A further $17.5 million is owed to the miner's subsidiary firms, Royell and Kimroy.

Parent company Kimberley Diamonds Limited is owed $1.9 million.

Bruce Vermey was the mine's plant manager for the past 11 years and said the process was not handled well.

"Unfortunately it was a little bit ad hoc, not all staff were contacted, they were met at the airport by HR and told their services were no longer required," he said.

He said workers were gathered under the guise of a compulsory drug test.

"They had been told they were all required for a site wide drug test," Mr Vermey said.

"Then there was an announcement that was made that buses were coming in and they were told to pack up their rooms and jump on the bus and leave site."

He said he is owed up to $125,000, but is not confident he will get it.

Mick Ratcliffe claims he is owed about $30,000. ( ABC News: Claire Dearle )

Mine worker Mick Ratcliffe said he is owed about $30,000.

"The chairman of the board and his cohort have a lot of explaining to do because it has left a lot of people well and truly down the creek," he said.

"They knew months ago that this was going to close on the 30th of June, because they told people they had made redundant two months ago they would get their payments on the 30th of June."

Mr Ratcliffe is currently recovering from an accident and said he is concerned he will not be able to apply for another job.

"I'm still on workers comp and until I can get off workers comp I cannot put in for a job, I'm stuck until the insurance company sort out with the administrators," he said.

Vote to unseat administrator

Employees held a vote at the meeting to remove the current administrator because they believe it has a conflict of interest with the Kimberley Diamond Company (KDC), which appointed them.

They wanted to replace Jirsch Sutherland with PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

Those attending the meeting were told workers' contracts had been terminated. ( ABC News: Claire Dearle )

But after voting in favour of the replacement, the employees were overruled, because they are owed less than KDC's subsidiary and parent companies.

Grant Crawford, who was made redundant in May and still has not been paid, criticised the process.

"The vote has gone that the administrators stay the same but it has gone on monetary value, the employees have not got the monetary value," he said.

"The employees have not got the figure that they are entitled to, that is still being worked out, so how can they have a reputed vote when all the facts are not on the table ... it is a joke."

Administrator says mine employees are priority

Jirsch Sutherland partner Christopher Williamson said employees were the priority creditors and would be paid first.

He said the administrators would use the proceeds of the sale of unprocessed and processed diamonds from the mine to pay some of its debts.

Mr Williamson also confirmed workers' contracts had been terminated and it would be confirming the notice in a letter to all employees.

Administrators have started the process to sell the mine.

Workers told the ABC earlier they were owed a month's wages, due at the end of June.

They said their calls to the company had gone unanswered.

The mine's owners, Kimberley Diamonds, blamed a decline in the quality of the gems and an unexpected slump in prices for the closure of the mine, which is east of Derby.