The UK Coal Authority granted the license for the mine, which was discovered by the National Coal Board over 50 years ago.
New Age Exploration owns the 10km by 7km coalfield that has the potential to produce 330-410 million tons of coal, reported Steelguru.
Production at the mine, expected to start at a 100m depth and will begin post the the planning and development consents have been secured.
New Age Exploration MD Gary Fietz was quoted as saying, "The granting of the licence marks a major milestone for NAE.
"We plan to rapidly progress evaluation and development of a significant underground mining project to exploit the shallow coking coal exploration target."
