Australia Zoo's Terri Irwin says she will fight a move to mine an environmentally sensitive area dedicated to her late husband.

The 135,000ha Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve on Queensland's Cape York Peninsula, north of Cairns, was purchased by the Federal Government as a tribute to Steve Irwin following his death in 2006.

The Irwin family runs the reserve, but now mining company Cape Alumina has lodged mining lease applications to mine bauxite within it.

Ms Irwin said should would take her fight against the mining  plans to court.

"Setting aside this land will not break the bank for Cape  Alumina and yet it would make such a huge difference  environmentally," she told ABC Radio this morning.

"So we're going to plead our case and I can't imagine the  situation couldn't be resolved because it's just a kind of a  lay-down misere that this particular area needs to be protected."

She said the area was home to rare and threatened plant and  animal species that needed to be protected.

"We have found a number of plant species which are very vulnerable, but the surprising thing is, there have 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."

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