Almost 100 miners barricaded themselves 400 meters underground on Sunday evening at the Carbosulcis Nuraxi Figusm operation near Cagliari, southwest Sardinia.

They armed themselves with 350kg of explosives seized from the mine’s owner.

“We cannot take it anymore,” miner Stefano Meletti, 49, shouted at reporters at a press conference on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

“If someone here has decided to kill miners' families, ladies and gentlemen, we'll cut ourselves, we'll cut ourselves,” he said as he grabbed a knife from his back pocket and sliced his arm twice.

The report said two workers standing near the 24-year mining veteran quickly grabbed his arms and brought him to the ground.

Meletti was taken to a nearby hospital and a Reuters report on Wednesday afternoon said his condition was stable.

The 500-worker Carbosulcis complex serves the nearby Enel power-generation facility, though the miners said at the conference that the company did not buy enough coal to ensure the mine would remain open during Italy’s current recession.

The miners also wanted the Italian government to approve a plan to convert the mine into a site that conducts both mining and carbon capture.

Government Undersecretary of Economic Development Claudio De Vincenti, however, told national newspaper the La Repubblica that the carbon capture conversion would be costly, about 250 million Euros ($US314 million) a year for eight years.

“That's almost 200,000 € per miner,” he said. “It's an unsustainable cost."

According to Reuters, the Italian government will meet regional leaders in Sardinia this week to discuss the area’s future.

“Do not make us lose our reason to live,” union representative Giancarlo Sau said at the press conference. “Do not make us lose our reason altogether.

“We are ready to do crazy things.”

Sardinia was once one of Italy's most active mining areas, but has suffered a downturn in recent years.

Moreover, US aluminium firm Alcoa announced it will close a 500-worker Sardinian smelter in Portovesme if no buyer is found.

The Carbosulcis mine is estimated to have 600 million metric tons of reserves.

It was occupied previously in 1984, 1993 and 1995. During the last occupation protestors stayed in a tunnel for 100 days.