The S&P/ASX 300 Index (ASX: XKO) is just about flat in morning trade today, but don't blame this surging ASX 300 stock.
The outperforming company in question is gold and rare earths miner Dateline Resources Ltd (ASX: DTR).
Dateline Resources shares closed yesterday trading for 15 cents. At time of writing, shares are changing hands for 16.5 cents apiece, up 10%.
This sees the Dateline Resources share price up a whopping 43.5% since last Friday's close.
Here's what's stoking ASX investor interest today.
Image source: Getty Images
ASX 300 stock jumps on rare earths buzz
Dateline Resources shares are charging higher following an exploration update at its Music Valley Heavy Rare Earth Project, located in the US state of California.
The ASX 300 stock conducted a magnetic and radiometric survey in March, which spanned 20,520 highly prospective acres.
Mitre Geophysics has now completed processing of the Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREE) datasets from Music Valley.
The company said the results highlight "numerous structures" across the project area, increasing the likelihood for HREE concentration. It has identified three priority prospect areas for more detailed exploration, including sampling and drilling campaigns.
The Thorium (Th) rich domains revealed by the survey were said to likely be the best proxy for HREE mineralisation.
According to the release:
The high Th is considered a proxy for elevated HREE in the minerals monazite and xenotime. The processed data highlighted a number of structurally complex zones on the western side of the project for further examination.
Dateline's rare earths and geology experts are now on the ground to confirm the geophysical interpretations.
What did Dateline Resources management say?
Commenting on the survey results helping boost the ASX 300 stock today, Dateline Resources managing director Stephen Baghdadi said, "Music Valley has always had the ingredients of a significant heavy rare earth district."
He added, "What these surveys have done is show us where those ingredients come together."
Digging into the geology, Baghdadi said:
The interpretation has identified a series of structurally complex zones associated with elevated thorium signatures and favourable Pinto Gneiss geology. These are precisely the types of settings where we would expect rare earth mineralisation to be concentrated.
Looking ahead, he concluded:
Rather than searching across a large land package, we are now focusing on a small number of highly prospective target areas. Tony Mariano Jr and Russell Mason are currently ground-truthing these prospects, and that work will guide the next phase of sampling and drill targeting.
