The Government is refusing to respond to Labour Party claims it is undermining the future of the financially troubled state-owned coal company Solid Energy.
And the chair of Solid Energy, Mark Ford, says he will not comment on the Prime Minister's suggestion the company could be allowed to fail.
Labour's state-owned enterprises spokesperson Clayton Cosgrove says Finance Minister Bill English had earlier also raised doubts about Solid Energy's future.
Mr Cosgrove questions why the Government appears to be undermining efforts to save the company.
A spokesperson for SOE Minister Tony Ryall says the minister will not respond to Mr Cosgrove's comments.
The state-owned coal miner is grappling with debts of nearly $390 million and earlier in May announced a further 105 job losses.
Ministers have received a consultant's report that says some parts of the mining company are in better shape than others.
Prime Minister John Key is not giving details of the findings but on Monday he referred to Solid Energy as a broken company in a very serious state.
"In totality it's probably got no equity left and significant debts, but that doesn't mean there aren't some parts of it that are potentially genuine business," he said.
Mr Key says there is a big range of options for Solid Energy that the Government has not yet managed to flesh out. He says he wants to be in a position to give clarity about the company's next steps within the next four weeks.
