A new iron ore mine on Tasmania's West Coast has moved a step closer with a mining lease granted for the Livingstone project near Tullah.

The Minister for Energy and Resources, Bryan Green, said the proposed mine would create 30 construction jobs and a similar number when it was operational 

"Venture Minerals is proceeding with development plans and hopes to receive final approvals to allow work to start on the mine before the end of the year," Mr Green said.

 

Mr Green said the project is the forerunner to Venture Minerals proposed world scale tin and tungsten mine planned at nearby Mount Lindsay.

 

"This mine will provide up to 1000 direct jobs during construction and 200 full time jobs when the mine is up and running.

 

Mr Green said Venture Minerals had spent around $25 million on exploration over the past four years.

Shree Minerals has also applied for a mining lease on the West Coast to mine iron ore and magnetite.

 

"These projects are a great vote of confidence in the Tasmanian mining industry which comes on the back of record investment in mineral exploration.

 

"This will provide a major economic boost to the North-West and West Coasts and the broader Tasmanian economy.

 

"There is no doubt Tasmania's mining industry is open for business.

 

Mr Green said this was highlighted by a Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics report released last week that showed hundreds of millions of dollars of mining investment in the pipeline for Tasmania.

 

"This points to an extremely positive future for our mining industry.

 

"The mining sector is crucial to Tasmania's economy and the Government is absolutely committed to supporting investment and jobs in the industry.

             

"The facts speak for themselves, there is record mineral exploration activity and we are seeing the consolidation of important mines in Tasmania.

 

"The Government is proactively promoting investment and it is paying off to the point where Tasmania is now leading nation in the search for new minerals.

 

Mr Green said Australian Bureau of Statistics confirmed that mineral exploration was up 80 per cent in 2010-11 over the previous year.

 

"This is a clear demonstration of the current strength of mineral exploration and we are now seeing projects proceeding into the mine planning stage.

 

"It is exciting to see the extent of the recovery in the minerals sector which now exceeds pre-global financial crisis levels.

 

"Mining and mineral processing continue to provide about 50% of Tasmania's international export income.

 

"The value of production for mining and processing activities last year totalled $2.39 billion.

 

"We are seeing increased spending on mineral exploration which is the life blood of our mining industry.

 

"It is exciting to see the ongoing recovery in exploration expenditure which has now exceeded pre-Global Financial Crisis levels," Mr Green said.