US greenlights rare earth mine next to Mountain Pass in California
The US government is greenlighting the development of a historic mine in California next to its only rare earths operation, as part of President Donald Trump’s recent executive order to bolster domestic production of critical minerals.
On April 8, the Department of the Interior (DOI) for Dateline Resources (ASX: DTR) to continue its development of the Colosseum rare earths project situated within the Mojave National Preserve in San Bernardino County. Due to its location, the project has been stalled for years.
According to the Australian miner, the Department’s communication reaffirms that the company’s existing rights under the Mining Act and the California Desert Protection Act are now valid.
The DOI approval paves the way to the development of America’s second rare earths mine. Currently, the US has only one producing rare earths mine, the Mountain Pass held by MP Materials (NYSE: MP), located just 10 km to the south.
“The Department of the Interior’s public support and confirmation of our rights provide a strong foundation for moving the Colosseum project forward,” stated Dateline’s managing director Stephen Baghdadi in a press release.
The Colosseum project has a rich history of mining dating to the California Gold Rush, but it wasn’t until 1986 that industrial-scale gold mining took place on the property. Between 1989 and 1993, the mine, under ownership of Canada’s LAC Minerals, churned out 344,000 oz. from two open pits. Barrick Gold then held the project for two decades but conducted minimal activity.
Similarity to Mountain Pass
Dateline took over the project in 2021 and has since reviewed work undertaken by the USGS to identify radio metric signatures for the Colosseum – Mountain Pass corridor.
Upon completion of review, Dateline’s team concluded that the project shares the same geological setting as Mountain Pass, which started production in 1952 and was a primary global source of rare earth elements (REE) from the 1960s to the 1990s.
Technical assessments suggest the potential for REE-bearing ore within Colosseum’s claim boundary, Dateline said.
The project currently has no estimated resources for REE, only a JORC-2012-compliant gold resource of 1.1 million oz., with about two-thirds in the measured and indicated categories. A scoping study in August 2024 outlined an eight-plus-year mine life averaging 75,000 oz. of gold production per annum.
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10 Comments
Pete Xander
So a foreign company can strip and mine within the Mojave National Preserve, drive on an existing dirt road, and pick up some rocks for my grandsons, I can be ticketed, arrested, and fined??? This is no longer a democracy. This is a criminal bananas republic, run by a lunatic dictator wanna-be, but without bananas
Linda
I agree.. This entire country is going to be destroyed and everyone will be sick from pollution of one sort or another.
Jim S
Spoken like a true left wing liberal.
Dee
This is what America needs! We need to mine for our own rare earth minerals and stop relying on others for it! There’s way too many environmental laws that get in the way! We’re the USA we can mine and protect the environment better than anyone else can! This is a win for America and the world and would’ve never happened had someone else won the presidency!
Steven Lewis
I’m all about protecting national resources but let’s be real. If we can’t get rare earth minerals from China or elsewhere then we need to mine them here. Otherwise the electronics that are needed for things like jet fighters and missile systems can’t be built. I think I’ll be putting in an application for any open position with Dateline Resources.
Mark Seager
The hard part is economically viable refining the mined material with minimal environmental impact.
Samuel H Bess jr.
Driven by greed, exploited by Trump, devastation expected, all for money. How much stock does Trum or his many minions own?
Stewart
Finding REE is not the issue. Processing. Firstly getting each element to pure form and Secondly the waste is difficult to store.
Suggest go look at the plains of flat poisonous mud flats near REE plants in China
BruceinAK
One of the unsolved conundrums within the effort to stop anthropogenic induced climate warming is the pollution and associated health consequences associated with mining the materials needed for batteries and electronics. I don’t know the answer to this question aside from tighter regulation of the mining and production efforts. Sadly, the current administration doesn’t consider long-term consequences.
Steve
It is clear to me that the only way for the US to ensure a reliable supply of REEs is to develop domestic resources. The US needs these elements for many of the key components of our transition to carbon-free energy – a change that will improve the environment for the entire Mojave Reserve. I do worry about the effects of new mines in the Mojave Preserve. As someone who has worked and recreated in the Mojave for over 50 years, I want to see its untouched desert preserved. However, this proposed REE mine at Colosseum is located where there is already extensive gold mining. A large open pit and extensive tailings are visible on Google Earth, so this is not pristine desert. My biggest concern is that Dateline Resources will focus primarily on the gold and the REE mining never happens. Also, we
have done a poor job of cleaning up mine sites when a prospect is played out. That has to change. Perhaps the US needs to impound 50% of the mined gold in order to ensure cleanup is done and this doesn’t become another Superfund site.
Perhaps the US government should impound 50% of the gold mined as an insurance policy