Huge dirty coal mine planned for Cape York

Sweetwater Lagoon in Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. Photograph: Kerry Trapnell

While conservationists, Traditional Owners and parts of the Queensland Government have been working towards a World Heritage listing for stunning Cape York Peninsula, mining companies want to turn the region into a giant dirty coal mine.

If the mines were approved, they would threaten whole ecosystems, including the Great Barrier Reef.

See a map of the Cape York coal exploration plans »

The coal plans, recently revealed by the Wilderness Society, shows one of Cape York’s largest national parks is now totally surrounded by land targeted for coal mining as companies snap up exploration permits, with one tenement even covering a nature refuge.

The only way to transport the coal out of the area would be to build a huge port right in the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, or to build a road or large conveyor belt right through Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park or Jack River National Park.

"These are deeply disturbing revelations,” said Gavan McFadzean, our Northern Australia Campaigner. “Cape York Peninsula has become the next big target for the coal industry.”

“The sick irony is that while the community has been working hard on protecting the World Heritage values of Cape York Peninsula, the coal industry is busy plotting to dig up the very same areas. Cape York Peninsula deserves to be protected, not plundered for short-term coal profits.”

There are 19 coal exploration tenements on Cape York Peninsula, with 12 applications being made in the past month-and-a-half alone. The area covered by coal exploration tenements is now 1,420,000 hectares – about seven times the size of Fraser Island.

We will fiercely oppose any coal mining plans in the area and are calling for bi-partisan rejection of coal exploration permits and mining leases on Cape York Peninsula, from both Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and LNP Leader Campbell Newman.

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Coal mining exploration permits surround national parks on Cape York and threatens ecosystems including the Great Barrier Reef.