TERRI Irwin has vowed to "fight to the end" to stop mining in the Cape York wilderness area dedicated last year to her late wildlife warrior husband Steve Irwin.

The Australia Zoo director said yesterday there could be no compromise which would allow mining within the 135,000ha Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve because even the removal of a small section of bauxite would affect the site's delicate ecology.
Instead Ms Irwin said she was drawing up a world-class management plan for the reserve which would not only see the area preserved as a conservation property but also become a focus of international wildlife study, the arts and medicinal research.

Calling her fight Save Steve's Place, Ms Irwin has begun an email campaign to garner international support against mining plans.

The Federal Government bought the land for $6.3 million to be owned and managed by the Irwin family trust. But mining company Cape Alumina Pty Ltd has applied to remove more than 50 million tonnes of bauxite over 10 years from within 12,300ha of the reserve.

Ms Irwin said perched springs, a special type of underground water supply, had been discovered on the site.

"One wetland ecologist has spent his entire career searching for perched springs in the Cape and didn't find any and we have found five so far (in the area) which has been earmarked for mining," she said.

Both Cape Alumina and Australia Zoo have commissioned environmental impact studies.

Cape Alumina chief executive officer Paul Messenger said it was premature to take any action against his company's mining proposals as its environmental impact study was not due for completion until next year.

"There's been a lot of emotion in the last day or so," he said. "It's too early, too premature to comment when the EIS is not even prepared yet."


This can not be aloud to happen so im giving a link to a petition thats already been put into action and id really appriate it guys if you can sign this and also get as many other people to sign