Lawsuit over Mojave mine approval

Environmental groups sued the Department of the Interior on April 15 to stop mining from restarting at the Colosseum Mine inside California’s Mojave National Preserve. (earthjustice.org) The plaintiff, the National Parks Conservation Association, filed in federal court in Los Angeles and said Interior unlawfully let Australia-based Dateline Resources rely on an old mining plan and expired environmental review. (earthjustice.org) The complaint says the mine shut down in 1993, Congress created Mojave National Preserve in 1994, and the National Park Service approved only temporary reclamation work in 1995 rather than a full reopening. (earthjustice.org) The case centers on a legal reversal in April 2025, when Interior said Colosseum could continue operating under a Bureau of Land Management plan approved in 1985, nearly a decade before the preserve was established. (blm.gov) The mine sits in the Clark Mountain area of Mojave, which Earthjustice said has California’s second-highest concentration of rare plants in any mountain range and habitat used by desert bighorn sheep. (earthjustice.org) Mojave National Preserve covers about 1.6 million acres and is one of the largest National Park System sites in the lower 48 states, so the dispute reaches beyond a single pit or road. (nps.gov) The lawsuit says Park Service staff spent years telling Dateline that no new mining could proceed without a new plan addressing reopening impacts, then abruptly changed position after the change in administration. (earthjustice.org) Earthjustice said Dateline bulldozed land, drilled, and built roads without authorization between 2021 and 2024, and that the Park Service sought more than $200,000 in damages before Interior reversed course. (earthjustice.org) Interior defended the 2025 approval as support for domestic critical minerals, saying Colosseum could become “America’s second rare earth elements mine” and reduce reliance on China. (blm.gov) Dateline bought the Colosseum property in 2021, and the company says the mine previously produced 344,000 ounces of gold before operations stopped in 1993. (company-announcements.afr.com, datelineresources.com.au) The suit asks the court to throw out Interior’s decision and block any further mining activity while the legal fight plays out, putting a 2025 federal approval for a protected desert site in front of a judge. (earthjustice.org)