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(Sharecast News) - Sunrise Resources announced an agreement for the sale of 29 mining claims dedicated to diatomite in the Crow Springs area of Nevada on Tuesday, to Dicalite Management Group.
The AIM-traded firm said the total purchase price amounted to $0.15m, with an initial payment of $75,000 on the transfer of the claims, already received by Sunrise.
It said the remaining $75,000 was contingent on Dicalite's submission of a mine plan of operations to the Bureau of Land Management.
The claims encompassed surface deposits of diatomite, strategically positioned for evaluation as a feed source for Dicalite's Basalt diatomite processing plant, located about 85 kilometres away by road.
Sunrise said it retained a royalty of $6 per dry ton of diatomite mined and extracted from the claims.
Dicalite held an option to acquire that royalty for a lump sum of $0.5m following the 10th anniversary of the first royalty payment.
Sunrise said Dicalite, a privately-owned enterprise, operates as a vertically-integrated international industrial minerals company, with mining and processing facilities across the United States and Europe.
The board noted that the agreement explicitly excluded Sunrise's County Line Diatomite Project claims, which remained under its ownership.
"We are pleased to sell these non-core claims and add another royalty interest to our portfolio," said executive chairman Patrick Cheetham.
"The sale is consistent with our policy to generate 100% owned attractive exploration projects at very low cost to be sold or joint ventured to other companies, and to mitigate risk from over exposure to any one project or resource.
"We have already done this successfully with our Garfield and Stonewall Projects with additional royalties built into the lease and option agreements on our Jackson's Wash and Pioche Projects."
Cheetham said the company's out-of-pocket expenses to date in securing and maintaining the Crow Springs diatomite claims were less than $25,000.
"We believe that Dicalite has the ability and ambition to turn this royalty to account in a relatively short time frame with production slated for its Basalt, Nevada processing plant."
At 1025 BST, shares in Sunrise Resources were down 3.16% at 0.05p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
