ABC reported that a group of scientists is calling on the Queensland Government to use its controversial Wild Rivers legislation to stop a mine from going ahead on the proposed Steve Irwin wildlife reserve on Cape York in the far north.

Mr Craig Franklin University of Queensland zoologist Professor said that the State Government's proposed declaration over the Wenlock River catchment currently excludes the mine site.

He said that mining bauxite will damage natural springs next to the site and ecosystems that are home to rare and threatened species. There's a lot of bauxite on Cape York Peninsula but there's not too many of these springs. We know so little about the springs that we need to understand more about them which will take years and years of research so that we can protect them.

He added that "If the springs are destroyed, then so goes the unique rainforest that exists with the springs, as well as 150 odd vertebrate species that live within that environment including that iconic and rare palm cockatoo."

(Sourced from Abc.net)