Mojave National Preserve Mining Lawsuit Against Interior

The Mojave National Preserve mine lawsuit is a federal challenge filed in April 2026 by the National Parks Conservation Association against the Interior Department, seeking to reverse the Trump administration’s 2025 decision letting an Australian company restart the Colosseum gold mine inside the preserve without a new Park Service plan of operations, a mining-claim validity determination, or an updated environmental review.¹² The case, National Parks Conservation Association v. U.S. Department of the Interior (No. 2:26-cv-04002), is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California before Judge Christina A. Snyder.

How a Gold Mine Ended Up Inside a National Preserve

The Colosseum Mine sits in the Clark Mountain area of the Mojave National Preserve in San Bernardino County, California, about ten miles west of Primm, Nevada.³ Commercial open-pit mining began in 1987 under a Bureau of Land Management plan of operations first approved in 1982, backed by a joint federal-state environmental review completed in 1985. Extraction ended in 1992, and the site went into reclamation the following year.⁴

Then the ground shifted under the mine. In 1994, Congress passed the California Desert Protection Act, which transferred the land from BLM to the National Park Service as part of the newly created Mojave National Preserve. In July 1995, NPS issued a letter giving the mine’s owners temporary authorization to finish reclamation work under the old BLM plan, but limited that approval to reclamation only. It did not authorize any new mining.⁴

Dateline Resources Ltd., an Australian company listed on the ASX, acquired the site in 2021.⁵⁴³

The 2025 Reversal

On April 8, 2025, BLM announced the Colosseum Mine had been given the “go-ahead to continue mining operations” under its existing plan. The agency’s press release tied the decision to a March 2025 executive order by President Trump directing agencies to increase domestic mineral production, and it identified the site as “America’s second rare earth elements mine.”⁶ Two days later, the Mojave superintendent confirmed in writing that NPS was rescinding the $213,387 damages demand and treating the 1980s-era plan of operations as still in effect.⁴

That reversal is the action the lawsuit challenges. It cleared the enforcement record against Dateline and let the company proceed without a new NPS-approved plan of operations, a BLM validity determination of its mining claims, or a fresh environmental review.¹

What the Complaint Alleges

The NPCA, represented by Earthjustice, sued the Department of the Interior, Secretary Doug Burgum, the National Park Service, and NPS officials in their official capacities on April 15, 2026.² The complaint brings three claims under the Administrative Procedure Act, each alleging violation of a separate federal statute.⁴

The first is the Mining in the Parks Act of 1976, which authorizes NPS to regulate all mining within park units and requires operators to submit an NPS-approved plan of operations. The complaint says Dateline was allowed to proceed without one.⁴

The second is the California Desert Protection Act, which withdrew federal lands inside the Preserve from new mining claims and requires the Secretary to determine the validity of any unpatented mining claim before approving a plan of operations. The complaint alleges no such validity determination was made.⁴⁷

The third is the National Environmental Policy Act. The plaintiffs argue the government is improperly letting the company rely on the 1985 environmental review rather than preparing a new or supplemental Environmental Impact Statement to address the changed circumstances of reopening the site decades later.⁴

Underneath all three claims is a single dispute about the 1982 BLM plan of operations. The complaint argues that plan was designed for a project life of about twelve years that ended in the 1990s, that the 1995 NPS authorization was limited to reclamation, and that no valid plan currently exists for new mining.⁴ Dateline has consistently maintained that it holds valid existing rights under that plan and that NPS has no legal basis to demand new permits.³

The NPCA is asking the court to declare the April 2025 decision unlawful, vacate it, and issue an injunction blocking any further mining at the Colosseum Mine until the government complies with federal law.⁴

“Just over a year ago, the Park Service was ordering Dateline to ‘immediately cease and desist’ all operations within the preserve,” said Earthjustice attorney Katrina Tomas. “The switch flipped and the Trump administration has encouraged them to charge ahead with industrializing this national park site.”⁸

What Is at Stake on the Ground

The Mojave National Preserve covers roughly 1.6 million acres, making it the third-largest unit of the national park system in the lower 48 states, and nearly half of it is designated wilderness.⁹ It sits at the meeting point of the Mojave, Sonoran, and Great Basin deserts and hosts around 800 plant species and 300 animal species, including the threatened desert tortoise and desert bighorn sheep.¹⁰ The Clark Mountain area where the mine sits has been identified as home to some of the Preserve’s most significant bighorn populations.¹¹ The complaint points to documented destruction of vegetation and habitat during Dateline’s unauthorized activities in 2022 and 2023 as evidence of the damage full-scale operations would compound.⁴

Where the Case Stands

The case is in its opening stage. Service on the United States was completed in May 2026, and counsel have appeared on both sides, but as of June 2026 the docket showed no government response to the complaint and no hearing dates. Magistrate Judge Alka Sagar is assigned alongside Judge Snyder.¹

Dateline is not waiting. The company completed a bankable feasibility study in April 2026 projecting a 10.4-year production plan targeting 573,000 ounces of gold, with construction aimed to start in mid-2026 and gold production beginning in 2027.¹² Unless the court grants the injunction the NPCA is seeking, the schedule the lawsuit is trying to stop will keep moving forward while the case is litigated.

1
Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. National Parks Conservation Association v. U.S. Department of the Interior
2
Earthjustice. Lawsuit Challenges Department of Interior’s Rubberstamping of Mining in California’s Mojave National Preserve
3
Los Angeles Times. Park Rangers Battle Australians Seeking Rare Earth Minerals in Old Mojave Gold Mine
4
Just Security. National Parks Conservation Association v. U.S. Department of the Interior, Complaint
5
NPCA. Lawsuit Challenges Department of Interior’s Rubberstamping of Mining in California’s Mojave National Preserve
6
Bureau of Land Management. Colosseum Mine in California Given Go-Ahead to Continue Mining Operation
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. California Desert Protection Act, Subchapter LIX-Y, Part C
8
Las Vegas Sun. Trump Allowing Mining on Mojave National Preserve
9
NPS History. Mojave National Preserve Foundation Document Overview
10
High Country News. The Mojave National Preserve: 1.4 Million Acres of Contradictions
11
GovInfo. Mojave National Preserve General Management Plan
12
Dateline Resources. Dateline Resources Ltd