Dateline buys second rig for US gold-rare earths drilling blitz
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Rowena Duckworth
In a deliberate move, Dateline Resources purchased another diamond drilling rig for the Colosseum project; This signaled confidence in scale going forward and was supported by owner-operated drilling. This acquisition also gives the company more control over its timeline.
Upon completion of the acquisition, the equipment was mobilized for the flagship gold and rare earth project in California’s Walker Lane Trend, one of the most gold-producing geological corridors in the American West.
The new rail-mounted diamond drilling rig, capable of drilling to depths of 1,200 metres, has passed its final safety inspections and rods are in operation at the Colosseum, bringing the total number of active drilling rigs on site to three.
Dateline’s last reverse circulation (RC) drilling reached a depth of 300 metres, close to the rig’s practical limit. Notably, even at these depths the drill bit never emerged from the felsite breccia pipe, the primary bedrock; This strongly implies that the system remains open at depth and further mineralization may be hidden beneath.
‘The purchase of the rig makes strong commercial sense given the expected scale of drilling in the coming years.’
Dateline Resources managing director Stephen Baghdadi
In any exploration program, when shallow RC drilling analyzes warrant a closer look, diamond drilling is the tool that provides in-depth answers.
For now, Dateline’s immediate priority is to complete its 12-diamond-hole rare earth element (REE) program with two company-owned drilling rigs working in conjunction with its existing contract drilling rig. Once this program is completed, the new diamond drill rig will be redeployed to test a range of additional gold and REE targets within the wider project area and potentially beyond that.
Dateline noted that depending on timing and results, the rig could also be mobilized for the priority Music Valley heavy rare earth project or the Argos strontium project.
A third drilling rig focused on testing the depth potential of the project’s North Pipe gold mineralization is also being deployed at Colosseum. If the drill bit meets the soil, a brand new underground resource can be opened under the existing open pit plan.
The current drilling forms part of an ongoing program designed to improve Dateline’s confidence feasibility study and upgrade the gold resource into increasingly higher confidence categories.
The project currently hosts 27.1 million tonnes of gold grading 1.26 g/t for 1.1 million ounces; More than 67 percent of these are classified into measured and indicated categories, and mineralization remains open at depth.
For bettors keeping score, the arrival of a second piece of equipment to own marks a meaningful step change in exploration intensity. More drilling means more holes, more holes means more results, and more results mean a more consistent flow of news for the market to digest. Dateline said so directly, too, noting that shareholders can expect a “meaningful increase” in news flow on both REE and gold in the coming period.
Dateline Resources managing director Stephen Baghdadi said: “Securing another owner-operated, rail-mounted drill rig provides greater flexibility to drill a wider range of targets, especially in areas inaccessible to traditional truck-mounted drill rigs.”
The business logic of owning rather than contracting equipment is also noteworthy. Rig availability can be limited in active mining areas, and daily rates for contract rigs have increased sharply in recent years.
Additionally, an owner-operated, track-mounted drill rig offers a practical advantage in rugged terrain such as California’s Mojave Desert, allowing access to targets out of reach of traditional truck-mounted rigs.
Dateline’s Colosseum project is located within the prolific Walker Lane Trend in California’s mountainous eastern San Bernardino County, within striking distance of the famed Mountain Pass rare earth mine. The region has a rich mining history dating back to the California gold rush of 1848 and is home to multi-million-ounce gold deposits as well as scattered fluorite, antimony and tungsten mines.
Dateline projects total gold production of 635,000 ounces over the first 8.3-year mine life; Average annual production is 71,000 ounces, grading 1.3 g/t gold, and has a recovery rate of 92 percent.
With a credible feasibility study expected to be completed by the end of this month, three drilling rigs in the field and a growing portfolio of critical mineral assets in California, Dateline is clearly gaining momentum heading into what promises to be a very busy year.
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