With protesters still raging over the approval of an iron mine in Tasmania last week, the Federal Government has green-lit another project to dig up iron ore in the Tarkine region.

A project based near Riley Creek gained state approval in May and has now been given the go-ahead by Federal Environment Minister Mark Butler. Mr Butler signed-off on the Venture Minerals project with a similarly long list of stipulations to the previously approved Shree Minerals project in the same area.

It was one of the Minister's final acts before the Government goes into caretaker mode ahead of the federal election.

Mining has been a major focus in the Tarkine region's Braddon electorate, with a downturn in forestry leading to high unemployment that could be boosted by big projects, but is also impacted by the need to preserve the fragile ecosystem of the island.

The Tarkine National Coalition says it will be challenging Venture's Riley Creek mine in the state planning appeals tribunal, arguing the Environmental Protection Authority did not fully consider the mine's impact on rare plants and the endangered Tasmanian devil. It is the same argument that saw the Shree project initially rejected, before being reinstated by Mr Butler contingent on over 30 conditions.

Federal Environmental Minister Mark Butler is confident the miners will clean up their mess: “It's a relatively shallow mine, so it only takes a few metres off the top soil and replaces it in tranches as they go so they are able to rehabilitate and re-vegetate the site,” he said.