THE FACTS

Us

~ Our aim is to get as many fans to our Facebook Group - STOP Anna Bligh & Cape Alumina mining the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve as possible.
~ We intend to submit our Facebook Group to the Queensland Government in the form of a petition, along with the signatures from our traditional online petition here.
~ With your support we (everyone one of our Facebook fans) will be asking the Queensland Government to:
(i) Deny mining rights and entitlements to Cape Alumina Pty Ltd in the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve and Wenlock River Basin, &
(ii) Declare the Wenlock River a 'wild river' under the Wild Rivers Act 2005 and afford it the protection it deserves.

The Environment

~ The Wenlock River Basin is located on Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia.
~ It contains the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve, comprising 135,000 Hectares, purchased by the John Howard Government and gifted to the Irwin Family Trust in 2007 to preserve and protect.
~ The area is home to a vast collection of unique, native plant and animal species including the Freshwater Saw Fish, Palm Cockatoo, Spotted Cus-Cus and the endangered red goshwawk.
~ It contains the greatest diversity of fresh water fish species of any river in Australia.
~ It contains the largest breeding population of saltwater crocodiles in Australia.
~ The Coolibah Springs complex is an extremely important part of the Wenlock ecology. These bauxite springs are directly responsible for the unique hydrology of the area and are relied upon by numerous plant and animal species.

Who's involved

~ Cape Alumina Pty Ltd is a 17.5% Chinese owned Australian mining company seeking to strip mine 12,300 Hectares of the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve.
~ They intend to extract 50,000,000 tonnes of Bauxite (used to make aluminium) over fifteen years.
~ They are linked with massive Chinese based alumina smelters, meaning the bauxite will be ripped out of our wilderness environment and shipped off to China for them to value add, on sell and profit from.
~ They plan to dredge a channel at the mouth of the Ducie River near Port Musgrave to build a port for bulk carrier ships.

~ Queensland Labor Government led by Premier Anna Bligh.
~ They were presented with a petition by Terri Irwin in December 2009 which contained 250,000 signatures. They have simply ignored this and instead stated they will wait for and base a decision on an Environmental Impact Statement, which is being undertaken by Cape Alumina itself!
~ This Government's track record on environmental issues is appalling and they should not be trusted to make the right decision when it comes to mining such a unique and irreplaceable piece of Australian wilderness.
~ Just some examples of the Government's mis-managed envirnmental issues include:
(i) The introduction of the Vegetation Management Act 2004 to manage land clearing. The amount of land cleared since the Act's inception is almost the same as it was prior.
(ii) Promised in 2001 and 2004 to protect the Great Barrier Reef from pollution, although nothing has been done to prevent land based pollution of the Reef.
(iii) Promised during all past elections to protect sensitive coastline from development, despite this many damaging coastal developments continue to be approved.
(iv) Promised a 10% renewable energy target by 2020, but Queensland still remains well behind other states in the race to implement renewable energy initiatives.

A final thought ...

In 1999 the Ok Tedi mine in Papua New Guinea burst its tailings dam banks. The result was erosion, landslides, wilderness destruction, habitat loss and human disruption on a massive scale. Australia's very own BHP Biliton was involved and its CEO Paul Anderson said at the time of the disaster that the Ok Tedi mine was "not compatible with our environmental values." Little relief for those affected by this disaster.

Should we sit back and wait for Cape Alumina's CEO Paul Messenger to peddle out similar excuses when their Pisolite Hills mine in the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve poisons and destroys everything around it? NO WAY.