The good news is piling up for Gold and rare earths explorer Dateline Resources

Gold and rare earths explorer Dateline Resources (ASX: DTR) is finding exploration momentum at its Colosseum Mine in California, with no shortage of wide and high-grade gold intercepts. 

Final assay results from a second diamond drill returned an 81.4-metre intersection grading 2.57 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from an 81-metre depth. The company’s shares opened 36.4% higher as the market opened on Thursday.

“It is very encouraging to see mineralisation that is wider than we expected, with excellent consistency … All three holes intersect gold grades that are greater than the current average mineral resource grade,” said managing director Stephen Baghdadi.

The Colosseum Project has a Mineral Resource 20.9Mt at 1.2 g/t for 813,000 ounces of gold – of which 71% is classified as Measured or Indicated. 

Current and previous drilling programs have hit wide intersections, with average grades greater than the current Mineral Resource. This includes:

• June 2022: 100.6m at 4.16 g/t from 79.2m

• June 2023: 63.2m at 10.28 g/t from 91.2m

• July 2023: 81.4m at 2.57 g/t from 81.0m 

The company says the results of this program will be used to upgrade its Mineral Resource update in the future.

Next steps

Dateline is progressing to the third hole in its current program (comprising eight holes), with approximately 306 metres completed so far.

The Colosseum mine is also prospective for rare earths and located less than 10km north of the Mountain Rare Earths mine, one of the most high-grade rare earth deposits in the world. 

A comprehensive mapping, sampling and gravity survey has located several rare earth targets, which the company plans to drill in the September quarter.

Dateline 3-month price chart (Source: Market Index)

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