A top resource analyst says Xstrata should offload its stalled Queensland works, meanwhile politicians say they should get back to digging.

The company is set to sack 500 workers across two states, blaming commodities prices and production costs, now Gavin Wendt from the MineLife advisory service says selling a site would make good sense in the current climate.

"If it is developed, the Wandoan coal mine could become the biggest of its kind in the southern hemisphere,” Mr Wendt said, “there are always markets for good projects and Wandoan is a good project because Xstrata one of the biggest coal companies, or the biggest, is developing it... Longer term that won't have changed, the coal doesn't disappear, the quality of the coal doesn't deteriorate."

Queensland MP Bob Katter says the company should get digging or let someone else do it, “the mining laws in Queensland say you can't sit on ore body and not use it. You either work it or get the hell off it," he said.