UPDATED 7.57PM: It's likely Solid Energy's Huntly East Mine, the lifeblood of the community, will be permanently closed.

Falling coal prices and a lack of demand are behind Solid Energy's proposal to shut down Huntly East mine.

The financially-stricken state owned mining company has given workers 10 days to submit feedback on the proposal for closure. It's understood 68 jobs will be lost. 

The decision follows Solid Energy's voluntary administration last month. One worker, who did not wish to be named, said many people have been in limbo since then. 

He also insisted some workers will be taking this much harder than others, especially those with coal-specific skills.

Many will face a pay cut heading into labouring jobs.

A union representative claims they knew what today's meeting would bring but it doesn't change how they feel about the closure, while E tu Union lead organiser Ray Urquhart noted that even if they did oppose the closure, it wouldn't make a difference.

"Most companies go through this consultation process but at the end of the day, what you hear on the day is usually the final answer anyway."

Waikato District mayor Allan Sanson said there isn't much the staff who work at the mine can say, and the proposal won't come as a surprise.

"The market is determining that coal is not required, and if you haven't got a market, you've got no business," Sanson said. 

"Being on the ground on the daily basis [the workers] probably understand what's going on with their industry and the markets at the time, but it still comes as a shock."

East Mine's chair Andy Coupe says Huntly East isn't up to scratch for a sale, so they were left with no other choice.

"We have to run the bushiness and all of our minds as efficiently as possible and to make them as competitive as possible and with those objectives we were left with little choice in relation to East mine."

Andy Coupe believes the rest of the company's assets will attract buyers.

The coal mine has been operating since 1978. 

The government will ensure the workers receive their redundancy entitlements. State Owned Enterprises Minister Todd McClay said the deal reached with Solid Energy's creditors last month means affected staff will be paid out. 

"Without that agreement every Solid Energy worker was likely to have lost their employment," he said.

"But it is a challenging time for the employees and people of Huntly."

The government has put in place a commitment to ensure the mine won't pose a risk to the environment, McClay added. 

"The government has already provided an indemnity of more than a hundred million dollars to Solid Energy around the environmental impacts of mining including their closure, so that money remains available."