Sunrise Resources PLC - focused on industrial mineral projects in Nevada - Tolsa USA Inc says it will not exercise its option to purchase Sunrise’s Pioche sepiolite project. However, Tolsa has ‘suggested it is open to discuss alternative arrangements for the project,’ Sunrise says. The option was granted in June 2022 and extended for an additional 12 months in December 2023. During negotiations, Tolsa cautioned it would ‘difficult to correlate specific sepiolite grades (and so values) between drill holes,’ Sunrise explains, despite large deposits of sepiolite clay having been identified by wide spaced drilling at the site. The company says it has not verified Tolsa’s claim due to the lack of data it has provided.

Sunrise argues that sepiolite deposits in Nevada differ from those at Tolsa operations in Spain and that ‘we should not expect to see correlation of specific sepiolite grades between the widely spaced holes drilled to date’. Sunrise says it will ensure Tolsa meets its contractual obligations to supply detailed project data and remaining exploration samples.

Chair Patrick Cheetham comments: ‘Given these circumstances, we do not see Tolsa’s decision as a reflection on the value of the project. Tolsa has expressed interest in alternative arrangements for the project and has already stated that large deposits of sepiolite clay have been identified at Pioche. We expect to be in a position to verify this soon and take possession of all remaining samples from the project.

‘We look forward to providing further information to shareholders and other interested parties once this becomes available. Tolsa has paid us $150,000 in option fees to date, whilst our expenditure on the Pioche project, at around £50,000, is just a small fraction of the money we believe has been spent by Tolsa to date in evaluating the project and from which we stand to benefit.’

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