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LONDON (Alliance News) - Sunrise Resources PLC on Tuesday said it has completed commercial-scale trials at its CS Pozzolan-Perlite project in the US with positive results, leading to a significant share price jump.
Shares in the mining company were up 16% at 0.17 pence on Tuesday.
Perlite is a type of volcanic glass used to aid water retention in soil. Once mined it is heated to temperatures in excess of 850 degrees celsius, whereupon it expands to many times its former size, weighing very little compared to its volume.
Sunrise Resources expanded two tons of raw perlite in a commercial production furnace, producing horticultural grade perlite. Sunrise noted that this type of perlite is suitable for the cannabis industry, the legalisation of which has stimulated the perlite market.
Furthermore, 100 tones of pozzolan was ground in a commercial scale production mill, testing positive for compliance the the standard for natural pozzolan. Natural pozzolans are used to make cement. Sunrise Resources said that demand for pozzolans is on the rise due to shortages of fly ash.
"Cement companies and fly ash suppliers are already grappling with a shortage of fly ash and this shortage will be intensified when the largest supplier to western markets, the large coal-fired Navajo power station in Arizona, closes as expected in 2019," said Sunrise Resources Executive Chairman Patrick Cheetham.
"Meanwhile the perlite market in the western US continues to be strong as more US States, and now Canada, continue the legalisation of cannabis for which perlite provides an ideal growing medium," Cheetham added.
