Dateline may have earned keys to rare earths penthouse suite
Dateline's Colosseum project in California is 10 kilometres north of MP's Mountain Pass juggernaut and shares more than just a postcode. Recent geophysical data now reveals that Colosseum's rare earths signature could well be a carbon copy of Mountain Pass. If that holds true, Dateline may soon find itself basking in the afterglow of the most significant US government investment in the sector in decades.
The deal just struck between the DoD and MP positions the company as a national champion in rare earth magnet manufacturing, but what really raises eyebrows is the scope of the government's commitment.
It includes a $400 million equity stake, a $150 million loan for expansion at Mountain Pass and a 10-year price floor and offtake agreement that will transform MP into the Pentagon's preferred rare earths supplier. That's a vote of confidence loud enough to wake up Wall Street.
And for Dateline, this is where things get really interesting.
'It is a dual-commodity opportunity – it is not just a speculative play. Colosseum offers both immediate value and long-term potential,'
Bagdadhi told Bulls N' Bears.
Dateline's geophysics team recently wrapped up a magnetotelluric (MT) survey across the Colosseum project. The preliminary findings are enough to make a geo's pulse race. Colosseum exhibits the same triple anomaly characterising Mountain Pass: a gravity high, a magnetic low and a zone of intermediate resistivity. In rare earths exploration, that trifecta is the holy grail.
On one line, in particular, the survey detected a prominent resistive zone directly beneath mapped outcrops of rare earth-bearing fenite dykes. Fenites are considered classic pathfinders for carbonatite-hosted rare earth systems. It's the same geological breed that made Mountain Pass famous.
According to the US Geological Survey, the signature combination of gravity, magnetic and resistivity anomalies is diagnostic of such systems.
In essence, the ground underneath Dateline's feet is talking - and it's speaking the same rare earths dialect as its southern neighbour.
The implications are hard to overstate. Recently US CNBC article reported that the US Interior Department has green-lit development activities at – you guessed it – Dateline's Colosseum. Perhaps more significantly, it noted that Dateline could potentially become America's second rare earths mine after Mountain Pass.
That last part bears repeating: the second rare earths mine in the US could be Dateline's.
To be clear, Mountain Pass is the only rare earths mine in the US - and until recently, it wasn't even making magnets. Now, with a 10,000 tonne per annum magnet manufacturing facility in the works, and the Pentagon tipped to become MP's largest shareholder, every inch of geological real estate in the region is being re-rated, and Dateline is at the top of the pile.
And therein lies the rub for every other rare earth aspirant in the queue. While the market has been awash with hopefuls touting exploration plans in Africa, South America and Australia, Dateline already has boots on the ground, permits in hand and a dataset that screams potential - and official public recognition by the US government.
Dateline's surface geochemical program is already 75 per cent complete, with nearly 1000 soil and rock samples collected. Early assays have confirmed the presence of anomalous concentrations of rare earths, including cerium and lanthanum - another tick in the Mountain Pass similarity box. Those results are being processed in batches, with full assay data due in the coming weeks. Dateline intends to overlay the geochemical results with the geophysical model to pinpoint high-confidence drill targets.
Meanwhile, two separate 3D inversions of the MT data are being run - one in Colorado, the other in Perth - to build a subsurface model capable of visualising resistive features, such as carbonatite bodies and conductive zones that may reflect clay-altered, gold-bearing breccia pipes.
Dateline has also reprocessed gravity data that already shows distinct highs corresponding to the geophysical anomalies. The company is preparing a drilling campaign to test for rare earths and gold potential across the project.
Importantly, this isn't just a rare earths punt. The Colosseum project already has a JORC-compliant gold resource of 27.1 million tonnes at 1.26 grams per tonne for 1.1 million ounces, with more than 67 per cent in the measured and indicated categories. On updated economics, the project has a net present value of US$550 million (A$841.5 million) and an internal rate of return of 61 per cent based on a US$2900 (A$4437) gold price. Gold is now selling for more than $5000 an ounce.
So, while the rare earths narrative is clearly stealing the headlines, it's underpinned by a serious gold asset that - by itself - would be headline-worthy.
That shiny asset aside, Colosseum is about as close as you can get - geographically and geologically - to the most strategically backed rare earths operation in America. Its proximity, combined with a clear and growing dataset that points to Mountain Pass-style mineralisation, is no longer just a curiosity. It's potentially a front-row seat to the rare earth revival of the century.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact:
matt.birney@wanews.com.au
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West Australian
3 days ago
- West Australian
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Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
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It's been a while since Dollar Bill put pen to paper. At first, it was deliberate. Then it became inertia. I also forgot the password to my trading account and took it as divine intervention. But markets have a way of dragging you back in - and lately, they've been anything but subtle. Something's stirring in small-cap land - and it's not just the usual background hum. Just two weeks ago, the United States Department of Defence quietly became the largest shareholder in MP Materials, which owns the Mountain Pass mine in California, the only rare earths operation of scale on US soil. A sometimes canny and mostly sober colleague of mine, Bill McConnell, wrote about it immediately in Bulls N Bears. He was onto it the very day it broke. Others chimed in later, perhaps a tad slow to the party, but that's not their fault. Most people get there eventually. Then Apple Inc jumped in, slapping another half a billion dollars on the table for equity, taking the total cheque for MP to a cool US$1 billion - all in under a week. MP's share price doubled, adding US$5 billion to its market cap pretty much overnight. That alone sparked the headlines, but for Dollar Bill, the real leg twitch came shortly after through a combination of events. The ASX 200 and the All Ords smashed record highs last week, the latter sailing through 9000 points for the first time. These weren't polite moves. These were rafter-shaking, hold-my-beer kind of surges. Also, copper prices punched out a new record peak this month at the same time that silver nudged just under US$40 for the first time in more than a decade. Gold remains stubbornly above the $5000 mark. 'Altogether, it's starting to feel like a genuine inflection point, or the world's most expensive coincidence. Mark Twain said history doesn't repeat, but it often rhymes. Right now? It's humming a very familiar tune.' Dollar Bill's even overheard a few stuffed suits at the club whispering about a revival in lithium - and for once, they might be onto something. Lithium doyen's Mineral Resources and Pilbara Minerals have both surged more than 50 per cent in the past month. And when the big boys start moving, the minnows tend to follow. Just take a look at lithium junior Galan, which has hiked from about 9c to 14c lately. Then there are the IPOs, those long-forgotten unicorns, which appear to be sniffing the morning air again. Apart from the odd ETF, 2025 has been a desert for new ASX listings - the driest year in more than a decade. But lately? There's been the sound of hooves… and they're moving.
The Age
3 days ago
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Small caps are back baby
It's been a while since Dollar Bill put pen to paper. At first, it was deliberate. Then it became inertia. I also forgot the password to my trading account and took it as divine intervention. But markets have a way of dragging you back in - and lately, they've been anything but subtle. Something's stirring in small-cap land - and it's not just the usual background hum. Just two weeks ago, the United States Department of Defence quietly became the largest shareholder in MP Materials, which owns the Mountain Pass mine in California, the only rare earths operation of scale on US soil. A sometimes canny and mostly sober colleague of mine, Bill McConnell, wrote about it immediately in Bulls N Bears. He was onto it the very day it broke. Others chimed in later, perhaps a tad slow to the party, but that's not their fault. Most people get there eventually. Then Apple Inc jumped in, slapping another half a billion dollars on the table for equity, taking the total cheque for MP to a cool US$1 billion - all in under a week. MP's share price doubled, adding US$5 billion to its market cap pretty much overnight. That alone sparked the headlines, but for Dollar Bill, the real leg twitch came shortly after through a combination of events. The ASX 200 and the All Ords smashed record highs last week, the latter sailing through 9000 points for the first time. These weren't polite moves. These were rafter-shaking, hold-my-beer kind of surges. Also, copper prices punched out a new record peak this month at the same time that silver nudged just under US$40 for the first time in more than a decade. Gold remains stubbornly above the $5000 mark. 'Altogether, it's starting to feel like a genuine inflection point, or the world's most expensive coincidence. Mark Twain said history doesn't repeat, but it often rhymes. Right now? It's humming a very familiar tune.' Dollar Bill's even overheard a few stuffed suits at the club whispering about a revival in lithium - and for once, they might be onto something. Lithium doyen's Mineral Resources and Pilbara Minerals have both surged more than 50 per cent in the past month. And when the big boys start moving, the minnows tend to follow. Just take a look at lithium junior Galan, which has hiked from about 9c to 14c lately. Then there are the IPOs, those long-forgotten unicorns, which appear to be sniffing the morning air again. Apart from the odd ETF, 2025 has been a desert for new ASX listings - the driest year in more than a decade. But lately? There's been the sound of hooves… and they're moving.
