ENVIRONMENTALISTS are urging the federal government to slap an emergency heritage listing on parts of the Cape York Peninsula amid an ''unprecedented'' number of applications to mine in the region.

The environmental group The Wilderness Society will today announce it has lodged an application for the Environment Minister, Tony Burke, to put an emergency protection in place to slow or stop the approval of new mines while permanent heritage listing is considered.

Heritage hub … The Wilderness Society wants emergency heritage listing. Credit:Paul Harris

One of the group's northern Australia campaigners, Gavan McFadzean, said there were six mines proposed for the cape, each of which would need a new port and would together mean clearing 45,000 hectares of forest and native grassland.

''This is an unprecedented level of development on Cape York,'' he said. ''We're talking about some of the most intact marine and terrestrial wildernesses in the world.