The Trump administration has thrown its weight behind Dateline Resources’ push to fast-track the development of its Colosseum rare earths project in California, as the US moves to reduce its reliance on foreign sources of critical minerals.

Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum publicly endorsed the reopening of the Colosseum mine during a Fox News interview on Sunday, describing it as a “pivotal step” in rebuilding America’s rare earths supply chain.

He highlighted the mine's national significance and said that restarting domestic rare earths production was crucial to bolstering the US’ supply of critical minerals.

The endorsement marks a significant milestone for ASX-listed Dateline, which wholly owns the Colosseum project in California’s Walker Lane Trend. In recent months, the company has been repositioning the former gold mine to play a broader role in rare earth elements (REE) supply.

Dateline director Stephen Baghdadi met with Burgum at the Department of the Interior’s headquarters in Washington, DC on Monday, presenting an overview of the site’s geology and outlining the mine’s potential to deliver REEs “sooner than any other known deposit in the US".

Senior appointees from the Department of the Interior and members of President Donald Trump’s National Energy Dominance Council attended the meeting, signalling deepening federal interest in the project. According to Dateline, discussions also touched on possible avenues for government funding to accelerate development.

Burgum reportedly expressed “specific enthusiasm” for Colosseum’s prospects and reiterated the administration’s commitment to unlocking domestic mineral production.

The Colosseum project sits less than 10 km from the operational Mountain Pass rare earth mine and currently hosts a Joint Ore Reserve Commitee-compliant gold resource of 27.1-million tonnes at 1.26 g/t gold for 1.1-million ounces. Updated economics released in May estimate the project’s net present value at $550-million and internal rate of return at 61%, based on a gold price of $2 900/oz.

Initial planning is under way to drill test the site’s REE potential, with Dateline aiming to transform Colosseum into a dual-purpose mine contributing both gold and critical minerals to the US economy.

The US push for rare earths independence comes amid rising geopolitical tensions and supply chain disruptions. China currently dominates global processing of rare earths, a group of 17 elements vital to defence, electronics, and green energy technologies.