Terry Irwin to fight mining firm

2008-05-12 11:47

Sydney - The widow of the Australian conservationist and entertainer Steve Irwin said on Monday she would fight to stop a wildlife zone dedicated to her husband being mined for bauxite.

Terri Irwin said the 135 000-hectare Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve on Cape York Peninsula in Australia's far northeast was home to a number of vulnerable species and needed to be protected.

The site, purchased by the Australian government in 2006 in tribute to the "Croc Hunter" following his death, is the subject of an application from a mining company to mine 50 million tons of bauxite, she said.

Terri Irwin, who is the mother of Irwin's two children Bindi, nine, and Bob, four, said she would take the legal fight as far as possible.

"Setting aside this land will not break the bank for (mining company) Cape Alumina, and yet it would make such a huge difference environmentally," she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Irwin said the reserve was home to a number of rare plant and animal species.

"We have found a number of plant species which are very vulnerable, but the surprising thing is, there've been some four plant species which have never been recorded on western Cape York," she said.

"That's just remarkable and of course there's rare bird species, the spear-tooth shark, sawfish, and estuarine crocodiles."

The Queensland state government said an environmental assessment would be done to determine whether any mining could proceed.

"It's a matter of... making sure that it's done in a way that looks after natural values," Climate Change Minister Andrew McNamara said.

"Cape York's a difficult area for balancing these things and I think that with good sense on both sides, we can have those resources mined, but also look after the values that are there."

Steve Irwin died in September 2006, aged 44, when a stingray speared him in the chest during the underwater filming of a wildlife programme.

- AFP