The Mineral Resources Authority of Mongolia granted Aspire Mining Ltd. mining license MV-020941, covering 860.91 hectares of the Nuurstei coking coal project, the company said Oct. 9.

The license provides the company with a minimum 30-year tenure over the area.

Under the June 2014 agreement, Aspire will issue 10 million shares to ASX-listed Xanadu Mines Ltd. as part of milestone payments related to the project acquisition.

The company is preparing for a bulk trial of indicative Nuurstei raw coal to test logistics paths and costs targeting delivery into China's Tangshan coking coal market, which will also provide commercial scale samples for targeted end customers as well as valuable data for completing a feasibility study.

Aspire Mining is now working toward commercializing the high-quality project as soon as possible, Managing Director David Paull said.

In July, Aspire estimated a capital cost estimate of between US$16 million and US$20 million to develop the Nuurstei project.