CS-Pozzolan-Perlite attracts cement producer interest

Sunrise Resources, a mineral exploration and development firm in Macclesfield, UK, is in talks with two US cement companies over supplying them with materials from its US sites as the country’s construction industry looks for more eco-friendly raw materials.

The company has mined various sites in Canada, Finland, Ireland and Australia, but is now focussing on the development of its CS Pozzolan-Perlite project in Nevada, USA. Field visits have taken place at its American sites in the past two weeks.

Perlite is an amorphous volcanic glass that can be used in lightweight plasters, concrete and mortar, insulation and ceiling tiles, and pozzolan can be used as a substitute for cement in concrete mixtures.

Sunrise Executive Chairman, Patrick Cheetham, said: “From my recent discussions with cement companies, it is becoming increasingly clear that a range of net zero CO₂ strategies in the cement and concrete industries, the requirements for sustainability, and the long term decline in fly ash supply are driving cement and concrete companies towards the use of natural pozzolan.

“The manufacture of pozzolan blended cements is a win-win for the cement and concrete companies as not only does it allow them to reduce the embodied carbon in their products, it also increases their cement production per tonne of cement clinker capacity at a time when they are already operating at full capacity and sold out of cement.

“Given these drivers impacting on the US cement and concrete industries, our CS and Hazen Pozzolan Projects are well placed to help industry in pursuit of these goals,” added Mr Cheetham.