Sunrise Resources PLC (AIM: SRES) saw its shares rise nearly 19% in early London trading after new testing showed processed material from its Pioche Sepiolite Project in Nevada can meet American Petroleum Institute (API) specifications for use in oil and gas drilling fluids.
The company’s Phase III evaluation tested surface and drill-core samples. All but one of the medium- and high-grade surface samples exceeded the API minimum specification, with most doing so by a substantial margin. Selected drill-core samples produced similarly encouraging results.
A blending study also demonstrated that combinations of low-, medium- and high-grade sepiolite could produce material meeting drilling-grade specifications, broadening the project’s potential commercial applications.
The latest work also identified additional sepiolite horizons after re-testing core from the company’s 2024 drilling programme. In particular, hole AF-04-2024 returned medium-grade sepiolite in an area where earlier testing by former project partner Tolsa had found no significant viscosity, opening up a new exploration target in the southeast of the project.
Sunrise said its optimised processing method generated higher freshwater viscosity results than Tolsa’s at all eight surface sample locations tested, with more than double the previous results at two locations.
The company has identified the northwestern and southeastern parts of East Mesa as preferred locations for future trial mining as it seeks a development partner for Pioche.
Executive Chairman Patrick Cheetham said the results significantly broaden the project’s commercial development opportunities.
