US Department of the Interior Approves Production Resumption at Colossus Rare Earth Mine

According to a report from Mining.com, the US government has approved the resumption of production at a historic mine in California, which is one of the measures under President Trump's recent executive order to expand domestic critical mineral production.

On April 8, the Department of the Interior (DOI) granted Dateline Resources permission to continue developing the Colosseum gold-rare earth project. The project had been on hold for years due to its location within the Mojave National Preserve in San Bernardino County.

The Australian mining company stated that the DOI's notification confirmed that its rights under the Mining Law and the California Desert Conservation Act remain valid.

The DOI's approval paves the way for the development of the second rare earth mine in the US. Currently, there is only one operational rare earth mine in the country, located just 10 kilometers south of this project—the Mountain Pass rare earth mine operated by MP Materials.

Stephen Baghdadi, the company's manager, said in a press release, "The DOI's public support and confirmation of our rights provide a solid foundation for advancing the Colosseum project."

The Colosseum project has a long history, dating back to the California Gold Rush, but industrial-scale gold mining only began in 1986. From 1989 to 1993, LAC Minerals of Canada extracted a total of 344,000 ounces of gold from two open pits. Subsequently, Barrick Gold Corporation held the project for 20 years but conducted only limited mining activities.

Dateline Resources took over the project in 2021 and subsequently reviewed the work conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to determine the extent of the Colosseum-Mountain Pass mineral belt.

After completing the evaluation, the company's team concluded that the project shares a similar geological setting with Mountain Pass. The Mountain Pass rare earth mine commenced production in 1952 and was a major global source of rare earth elements from the 1960s to the 1990s.

The company stated that technical evaluations indicate potential for rare earth exploration within the Colosseum mining rights area.

Currently, the project has not yet estimated its rare earth resource volume. It only has a gold resource of 1.1 million ounces compliant with the JORC-02 standard, with two-thirds classified as measured and indicated resources.

A scoping study completed in August 2024 suggests that the project could be mined for over eight years, with an annual gold production of 75,000 ounces.