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Company Statement
Sunrise Resources plc ("Sunrise") was formed to acquire the diamond exploration interests of Tertiary Minerals plc in 2005. Since then the Company has made a number of new kimberlite discoveries in Finland and expanded its portfolio of diamond exploration interests in Finland. Sunrise has also joined forces with BHP Billiton to exploit the BHP Billiton diamond exploration database for Finland. Exploration is continuing and drilling of certain targets is planned for 2010.
In 2009 the Company made a strategic decision to expand its geographical focus as well as its commodity interests and in October 2009 the Company announced an application for an exploration licence in Western Australia prospective for both diamonds and Ni-Cu-PGM (the Cue Project). Exploration for this project is scheduled to start after the grant of the licence which is expected mid-2010.
In September 2009 the Company was awarded an exploration licence in south-west Ireland for the industrial mineral barite (the Derryginagh Project). Past mining of high value filler grade barite and more recent drilling has indicated the potential for a modest scale mining operating that could, in time, produce a valuable cash flow for the Company. Most recently the Company announced promising results from initial metallurgical testwork and product testing and further work is planned.
Most recently the Company secured an option agreement for the Long Lake Gold-Nickel-Copper-PGM project20km south-west of the City of Sudbury, Ontario (Canada). The Long Lake Gold Mine produced 57,000 ounces of gold from over 200,000 tonnes of ore mined in the periods 1910-1916 and 1932-1939 and has considerable untested gold potential. The claims also cover potential extensions to the currently producing Copper Cliff dyke system at the heart of the World’s most productive nickel-copper mining complex.
The acquisition of the Long lake project completes an important stage in the strategic development of the Company’s project portfolio.
Current Operations
Long Lake Gold (& Ni-Cu-PGM) Project, Sudbury, Canada
- Historic production of 57,000 ounces gold from 200,000 tonnes ore at a recovered grade of 9 g/t gold
- Unexploited potential below and adjacent to shallow gold mine workings and in outlying prospects – e.g. 6m @ 13.8g/t gold and 5.7m @ 30g/t gold in past drilling.
- Claims also include potential 10km extension to producing Copper Cliff offset dyke system prospective for nickel-copper-platinum group metals
On 4 May 2010 the Company acquired a three year option acquire a 100% interest in the previously producing Long Lake Gold Mine located 20km south-west of the City of Sudbury, Ontario (Canada). The claims also cover potential extensions to the currently producing Copper Cliff dyke system which lies at the heart of the World’s most productive nickel-copper mining complex.
Finland
Kuusamo Project
In northern Finland the diamond exploration interests held by Sunrise Resources include seven new kimberlites discovered in a previously unrecognised cluster in north central Finland, now known as the “Kuusamo” kimberlite cluster and numerous additional untested targets in the same area. The Kuusamo project is located in the centre of the Karelian Craton which extends from Sweden, through Finland and eastwards into Russia.
The kimberlites are located in the following project areas:
- Kalettomanpuro
- Kattaisenvaara
- Anomalies 45/47
- Lampi
Micro-diamonds have been recovered from three Kuusamo kimberlites in preliminary sampling.
Australia
Cue Project
In October 2009 the Company applied for an exploration licence targeting diamonds, platinum group metals (PGM’s) and gold in Western Australia.
The exploration licence application (ELA20/727) covers an area of approximately 70 square km and is located 70km to the north-west of the town of Cue in the Murchison Mineral Field in the Yilgarn Craton of Western Australia.
The Cue region was explored by De Beers in the period 1994-2002 during which time De Beers discovered a number of kimberlite dykes in two separate areas within the Company’s application area.
At the "Cue 1" locality a kimberlite dyke outcrops and is reported by De Beers to be 2-3 m wide. Several drill holes intersected the dyke and one vertical hole intersected kimberlite from surface to 60m depth. At Soapy Well, 7km to the west, at least three closely spaced kimberlite dykes, up to 3 m wide, were encountered in two drill traverses spaced 400m apart.
De Beers described the Cue project kimberlites as olivine macrocrystic hypabyssal kimberlites. It did not report the results of diamond sampling, although some time after the first discovery of the Cue 1 kimberlite De Beers described the area as having "...excellent potential for discovery of kimberlites and diamonds."
De Beers carried out an extensive regional exploration programme in the north-west part of the Yilgarn Craton involving stream sediment sampling, soil sampling, airborne geophysics and drill testing. De Beers last open-file report on the area reported that “….anomalous heavy mineral results from areas that are structurally analogous to the Cue and Soapy Well kimberlites suggest that additional kimberlite intrusions remain to be found.” Sunrise has carried out a preliminary evaluation of these results and included the most anomalous areas within its exploration licence application.
Also of interest within the licence area is a sulphide-bearing gabbro dyke that was intersected in several drill holes by De Beers prior to the discovery of the Cue 1 kimberlite. Although not of interest to De Beers for diamond exploration, the gabbro dyke is now targeted by Sunrise for PGM’s and gold. It is located in the same region as the Weld Range PGM deposit (inferred resource >0.5 million ounces platinum+palladium+gold) the discovery of which was initiated by the current Sunrise Executive Chairman, Patrick Cheetham, when Joint Managing Director of Dragon Mining NL.
The new licence application area has not been held under licence since the De Beers licences expired and their exploration results did not become open file until 2006. Consequently the occurrence of the Cue kimberlites is not widely documented.
The Company has applied for Exploration Licence 20/727 through a new wholly owned subsidiary in Australia – Sunrise Minerals Australia Pty Ltd.
The Cue project is the first of a number of new projects planned by the Company to broaden its geographical base and widen its commodity interests which, to date, have been focused on diamond exploration in Finland.
Ireland
Derryginagh Project
In November 2009 the Company was granted a Prospecting Licence for base metals, barite, silver, gold and platinum group elements near Bantry, County Cork, in the south-west of the Irish Republic.
The Company is targeting the Derryginagh barite deposit for the production of high value white “paint-grade” barite for use as mineral filler in paints and plastics. White paint-grade barite is the highest-value use for barite having significant sales volumes. Off-white barite is used as a lower value mineral filler and high volumes of low-grade barite are used as a weighting agent in drilling mud in the oil and gas industry.
The Derrryginagh mine was worked in the period 1864-1922, supplying white barite to the local paint industry. The mine workings extend over a strike length of 200m and to a maximum depth of 60m. In the 1970s the mine workings were de-watered and mapped by a local company and in the 1980s four holes were drilled to intersect the barite vein at 100 meters below surface by Dresser Minerals International Inc., which was then a major supplier of drilling mud grade barite around the world.
All four Dresser holes intersected white barite over an average width of 2.4m and over a total strike length of 200m, with the vein being open along strike and at depth.
There is a significant demand for white paint-grade barite in Europe but no major mine supply outside of China and India. Consequently there is a niche opportunity for a new European supplier as China’s own internal demand limits traditional exports. The price currently quoted for white paint-grade barite is £195-220/tonne delivered to the UK.
The Company will collect samples of the barite mineralisation for metallurgical characterisation and quality testing before undertaking further drilling and economic evaluation.
Geographical Spread
Finland, Austalia and Ireland
Board of Directors and Key Management
| Patrick Cheetham | Executive Chairman |
| Francis Johnstone | (Senior) Non-Executive Director |
| Neil Herbert | Non-Executive Director |
| Colin Fitch | Company Secretary |
| Andrew Dixon | Project Manager, New Business Development |
Company AddressSunrise HouseHulley Road
|
CapitalIssued Share Capital 247,206,886 |
Annual General MeetingJanuary | Year End30th September |
Nominated BrokersAstaire Securities plc | Nominated AdvisorsAstaire Securities plc |
Broker/Analyst Reports
02/08/07 - Hardman & Co.
Major Shareholders
| Major Shareholders | Holding | % |
| Share Nominees Ltd | 28,108,808 | 11.37% |
| Tertiary Minerals plc | 25,751,785 | 10.42% |
| Mr Ronald Bruce Rowan | 25,000,000 | 10.11% |
| Pershing Keen Nominees Limited GWCLT | 22,285,419 | 9.01% |
| Starvest Plc | 14,183,333 | 5.74% |
| Rock Nominees Limited 323415 | 12,500,000 | 5.06% |
| Rock Nominees Limited 2015721 | 11,416,667 | 4.62% |
| * Patrick L Cheetham | 10,198,383 | 4.13% |
| * includes 5,500,000 held by K E Cheetham |
Related News
07/07/10 - Sunrise Resources Gets To Work On The Ground At Long Lake In Canada, Gathering New Data Ahead Of The Coming Drill Campaign06/05/10 - Sunrise Diamonds Adds Gold And Copper To Its Portfolio, With The Acquistion Of The Long Lake Property In Canada
28/04/10 - Sunrise’s Aspiration For Early Cash Flow Moves Closer To Reality, With Further Progress On The Derryginagh Barite Project In County Cork
10/02/10 - As The Diamond Market Shows Signs Of Life, Sunrise Diamonds Goes On The Hunt For Deals
02/11/09 - New Departures For Sunrise Diamonds, As Patrick Cheetham Targets Bootstrap Operations And Bigger Acquisitions Too
20/05/09 - The Sun Has Not Yet Set On Sunrise Diamonds, Although A Little Bit Of Diversification Looks A Distinct Possibility In The Near Future
Most Recent Statement
23/06/10 - Long Lake Project, Canada - Update24/05/10 - Half Yearly Report
05/05/10 - Option on Gold Project, Canada
21/04/10 - Positive test results, Derryginagh
08/12/09 - Grant of Warrants
25/11/09 - New Project, Ireland