Sunrise seeks approval for pozzolan on California transport projects

Sunrise Resources said on Wednesday that it has applied to the California Department of Transport (Caltrans) for conditional approval of CS natural pozzolan for use in infrastructure projects in the state.

The AIM-traded firm said Caltrans’ standard specifications for concrete mandate the use of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) such as natural pozzolan, to improve the durability and sustainability of its concrete structures.

In order for a construction material to be used in a Caltrans project, it needs to be officially approved and listed on the department’s list of authorised materials.

To be listed, a material must be commercially available with six months of test data from production.

However, the company said it recently became possible for new sources of construction materials to be approved on a conditional basis if it met certain specifications.

Caltrans would test the CS natural pozzolan against those specifications, with Sunrise saying it was “confident” that its pozzolan would meet them based on its own independent testing under the standards.

“We are targeting the California markets with our CS natural pozzolan and, as Caltrans projects account for a significant percentage of SCM and concrete consumption in California,” said executive chairman Patrick Cheetham.

“Acceptance of CS pozzolan onto the authorised materials list is an important step to maximise futures sales of our natural pozzolan.”

At 1223 BST, shares in Sunrise Resources were up 4.44% at 0.14p.

Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.