Traditional owners on Cape York are urging mining giant Rio Tinto to finalise an agreement which would ensure that timber worth hundreds of millions of dollars is salvaged and not burnt.

Rio Tinto last week gave the official green light to its $2.5 billion Amrun bauxite mine, south of Weipa in far north Queensland and preparatory work is already underway at the site.

The project, on the traditional lands of the Wik and Wik Way people, will involve clearing about 30,000 hectares of tropical savannah woodland over the 40-year life of the mine.

The timber resource is worth an estimated $600 million, according to Mark Annandale, a senior research fellow at the University of the Sunshine Coast and a forestry consultant for the Wik people.

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Four years ago, the Queensland Government granted Wik Timber Holdings Ltd a permit to salvage and sell timber on Rio Tinto's lease which would otherwise be clear-felled and burnt ahead of mining.

But Wik Timber said it still did not have an access agreement with Rio Tinto Alcan, despite more than two years of negotiations.

"Our concern is that it's dragging on for too long," said Gina Castelain, who oversees a suite of Wik-owned businesses which aim to generate jobs, income and independence for the Wik people.

"We expect [Rio Tinto] to start construction in May. Already we've cleared lots of areas for their drilling program south of Weipa," she said.

If not salvaged, the timber on Rio Tinto's lease would be clear-felled and burnt. ( Supplied: Mark Annandale )

For the best part of a decade, the Wik earth-moving enterprise has been doing contract clearing and burning of native woodland for Rio Tinto's current mining operations around Weipa.

"It's heartbreaking and a real waste," Ms Castelain said. "And we can't continue to keep wasting this valuable timber resource."

"Probably 98 per cent of the population here is on welfare or part of the welfare dependency cycle. We want to create real jobs, people in meaningful jobs and on their traditional country."

Rio Tinto supplied a statement to the ABC saying:

"[The company] supports the principle of timber harvesting ahead of mining and is working through negotiations with Wik Timber as quickly as possible to underpin what may be a sustainable long-term opportunity. "Safety is our number one priority and we are focussed on ensuring any timber harvesting activities on the mining lease meet appropriate health and safety standards. "We are working to confirm timber harvesting can be conducted in a compatible way with our mining activities, and consistent with our obligations to traditional owners. "The Amrun project builds on Rio Tinto's 50-year history on Cape York and the strong partnerships we have developed with the region's traditional owners, with one in four employees at our existing operations being Indigenous people. "We are committed to providing access to opportunities for local and indigenous suppliers and community members to benefit from the project."

Rio Tinto said the main construction work would not start until 2017-18 and that land clearing would take place progressively over the 40-year life of the mine.

But Mr Annandale said to create a viable business, Wik Timber needed to be assured of access and supply so that it could start locking in buyers.

A cottage built using salvaged Cape York timber. ( Supplied: Mark Annandale )

His inner-Brisbane cottage is a show home for the beauty and high structural value of the timber that the Wik want to salvage: Darwin stringybark and Cooktown ironwood.

"These species are in the highest value categories," he said. "And can be used for any construction purpose in housing."

"One of the beauties for the market is that some like light gold colours, the Chinese do, and the Japanese like red timbers, and Cape York timber provides that spectrum."

Ms Castelain and Mr Annandale want Rio Tinto to sign off on a MoU to allow access to the timber. ( ABC News: Dominique Schwartz )

He said there was already keen interest in Wik Timber from potential buyers in south-east Asia.

"We want to sign off on the Memorandum of Understanding [with Rio Tinto] so that Wik Timber can get down and do business in 2016. Without signoff it reduces the opportunities for Wik and they won't be able to realise opportunities."

Ms Castelain said it was a win-win situation.

"Rio will not be clearing and burning and we can salvage the timber," she said.

"It shouldn't be this hard to get agreements in place with mining companies."

The Queensland Agriculture Department said it had discussed the access MoU with Wik Timber and Rio Tinto together and separately, but said that "ultimately it was a commercial arrangement to be settled by both parties".