RCS - Sunrise Resources - KEY ROLE FOR POZZOLAN IN CEMENT DECARBONISATION

Sunrise ResourcesAnnouncement

09/05/2022 08:00

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RNS Number : 6897K  Sunrise Resources Plc  09 May 2022

9 May 2022

SUNRISE RESOURCES PLC

("Sunrise" or "the Company")

 

KEY ROLE FOR NATURAL POZZOLAN IN CEMENT DECARBONISATION IN WESTERN USA

 

Sunrise Resources plc wishes to provide the following information to
shareholders regarding the importance of natural pozzolan to carbon-neutrality
and sustainability in the future of the cement and concrete industries.

 

Key Points

 

·    Natural pozzolan:

 

Ø has a key role in multiple CO(2) net-zero strategies in the cement and
concrete industries.

 

Ø is of interest to aspiring clean-tech cement producers as well as
traditional heavy industries and building material suppliers.

 

Ø has a role in building more durable and sustainable concrete structures.

 

Ø will benefit from recent California State legislation and Implementation
Priorities under Biden's $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Bill.

 

·    Production of pozzolan cement is a win-win for cement companies
looking to extend their cement production capacity.

 

 

 

Commenting today, Executive Chairman Patrick Cheetham said: "From my recent
discussions with cement companies, it is becoming increasingly clear that a
range of net-zero CO(2) 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 ton 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."

 

 

 

 

The Role Of Natural Pozzolan In CO(2) Net-Zero Strategies

 

In its announcement of 4 May 2022, the Company stated that the development of
its CS Natural Pozzolan-Perlite Project is taking place against a background
of fundamental change in the cement and concrete industries; a change which is
being driven by climate change targets to achieve net-zero CO(2) emissions.

 

After water, concrete is the most used substance on Earth. Whilst 14 billion
cubic metres of concrete were poured globally in 2020, this is forecast to
increase to 20 billion cubic metres annually by 2050 with continuing global
urbanisation and population growth. This activity is currently responsible for
8% of the World's man-made emissions, half of which comes from the burning of
fuel and the other half by direct release of CO(2) from burning limestone in
the cement clinker making process.

 

Net-zero CO(2) targets are therefore a major challenge for the cement and
concrete industries but one they must meet. In the US, as elsewhere around the
World, these targets are enshrined in State legislation, industry-body
commitments and are increasingly driven by cement and concrete customers and
specifiers. In addition, one of the Implementation Priorities in US President
Biden's November 2021 Executive Order "Implementation of the $1.2 trillion
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act" is "building infrastructure that is
resilient and that helps combat the crisis of climate change". It seems likely
then that priority will be given to greener and more sustainable building
materials in contracts awarded under the Infrastructure Bill.

 

California is a major target market for the Company's CS Project and has the
largest economy of all the US States. In September 2021, in the first law of
its kind in the US, California's Carbon Cap-and-Trade scheme was signed into
legislation and directly targets greenhouse gas emissions associated with the
cement industry. This Cement Decarbonization legislation is focused on
achieving net-zero emissions from the industry by the end of 2045. It works by
putting a periodically declining limit on carbon emissions for a given entity,
allows those entities  to trade unused allowances but imposes fines on any
entity exceeding its allowance. Experts believe this will pave the way for
similar Federal legislation in the US. 2021 also saw the publication by The US
Portland Cement Association of its road map to carbon neutrality. A key
component for this road map is the reduction in the quantity of cement used in
cement and concrete mixes through the use of supplementary cementitious
materials ("SCMs") such as natural pozzolan.

 

It is important to understand how the cement industry is addressing net-zero
carbon targets and how natural pozzolan can play a key role. There are a
number of strategies currently being employed in the cement industry,
including:

 

·    Use of alternative clean(er) fuels. e.g. biomass, chemical and
hazardous waste, and petroleum-based fuels but also natural gas; wind energy;
hydroelectric power; solar energy; hydrogen; and nuclear energy.

 

·    Carbon capture and storage. In its most basic form CO(2) is captured
from the cement kiln where the fuel is burned and where CO(2) is released from
burnt limestone. The captured CO(2) is stored in underground geological
reservoirs such as spent oil or gas fields.

 

·    Carbon curing. CO(2) is captured at the cement plant then liquified
and transported with cement to the concrete ready-mix plant where it is
reinjected into the concrete mix in the mixing truck. Here it combines with
the concrete mix and becomes locked into the concrete mix and assists in
concrete curing.

 

·    Manufacture of so-called "clean-tech" cements. These cement
technologies do not produce Ordinary Portland Cement ("OPC") but produce
alternative cements by innovative carbon-neutral methods rather than OPC.
These cements can be used in partial or full replacement of OPC.

 

·    Production of 1L (limestone) cement. C.10% limestone blended with OPC
with clinker. 10% reduction in CO(2) emission per ton of cement produced. An
easy win for the cement companies as limestone is always available locally as
the main source of cement clinker.

 

·    Production of cements containing natural pozzolan or slag.  e.g.

 

·    1P (pozzolan) cement. Up to 30% natural pozzolan blended with OPC. Up
to 30% reduction in CO(2) emission per ton of cement. Natural pozzolan can
replace fly ash pozzolan in cement or concrete. Fly ash supply is declining
due to the ongoing closure of coal fired power stations.

 

·    1S (slag) cement. Up to 30% blast furnace slag pozzolan blended with
OPC. Up to 30% reduction in CO(2) emission per ton of cement. Blast furnace
slag is restricted in production quantities and locations.

 

 

 

The role of natural pozzolan in sustainable development

 

In addition to building greener structures, a key part of sustainability in
the concrete industry is the building of more durable structures with longer
life.

 

 Whereas "Roman concrete" structures made with natural pozzolan have survived
for millennia, some concrete structures from parts of the 20(th) century made
with OPC are susceptible to "concrete cancer".  This is due to reaction of
alkalis in OPC with "reactive" silica in concrete aggregates and results in
expansion, cracking and spalling of the concrete (Alkali Silica Reaction or
"ASR").

 

As high-quality aggregate supplies for concrete become scarcer, the concrete
industry is having to use more reactive aggregates that can severely impact
the quality of the resulting concrete.

 

The use of high quality SCMs such as natural pozzolan will mitigate ASR by
tying up and immobilising the alkalis in cement, preventing their reaction
with silica in the aggregates. So much so that the use of pozzolans is often
mandated by State Departments of Transport for public infrastructure
construction work to ensure more sustainable structures.

 

Sustainability, and ASR mitigation in particular, is therefore a significant
factor in choosing the use of natural pozzolan in net-zero CO(2) strategies.

 

Of all the strategies being adopted by the cement and concrete industries,
only the use of SCMs can mitigate ASR and so we expect to see natural pozzolan
used in conjunction with other CO(2) reduction strategies.

 

 

Use of natural pozzolan is a win-win for cement companies

 

In order for cement companies to reduce the embodied carbon in their cements
it helps if there is a strong business case for doing so. Cap-and-Trade is a
"carrot and stick" approach and customers and specifiers are increasingly
looking for greener cements.

 

The use of 1P cement not only provides for more durable and sustainable
concrete with lower embodied carbon but it also allows the cement company to
sell more cement per ton of OPC clinker capacity. The production of cement
clinker in the cement kiln is often the volume limiting step to cement
production at a cement plant.

 

This is an important consideration particularly as cement companies are
currently operating at capacity and are all sold out.

 

These ongoing developments serve to strengthen the place of natural pozzolans
in future cement formulations and the CS Project is well placed, being fully
permitted and ready to mine.

 

As stated in its news release of 4 May 2022, the Company is currently in
discussions with two large CRMCs, one major fly ash distributor, a building
materials company and a clean-tech company. Field visits were recarried out by
certain interested parties at both Hazen and the CS Project in the past two
weeks.

 

 

Further information:

 

 Sunrise Resources plc                  Tel: +44 (0)1625 838 884

 Patrick Cheetham, Executive Chairman
                                        Tel: +44 (0)207 628 3396

 Beaumont Cornish Limited

 Nominated Adviser

 James Biddle/Roland Cornish
                                        Tel: +44 (0)207 469 0930

 Peterhouse Capital Limited

 Broker

 Lucy Williams/Duncan Vasey

 

Shares in the Company trade on AIM. EPIC: "SRES". Website:
www.sunriseresourcesplc.com (http://www.sunriseresourcesplc.com)

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