Already a major producer of perlite (a light- weight aggregate with a variety of industrial uses), Vancouver-based Aurun Mines is diversifying into sulphur.
The company has joined forces with Equinox Resources to explore and develop eight patented claims covering the Sunlight Basin sulphur deposit in Shoshone National Forest, Wyoming. Equinox has a number of platinum group metal (pgm) properties in Canada which the company has been actively exploring and a 23.6% interest in Cominco’s Buckhorn gold project in Nevada.
Under a lease agreement with a private party, the joint venture can earn 100% of the proceeds from any sulphur production, subject to a 4% net smelter return and annual cash payments to the lessor. Aurun and Equinox have agreed to share expenditures and operating proceeds on a 50/50 basis through a joint venture agreement.
The property hosts a number of surface sulphur deposits estimated to contain over 1.2 million tons grading approximately 40% elemental sulphur. According to Aurun President John Chapman, the actual potential is much larger, probably over five million tons. Previous work has established that the sulphur is free of arsenic, selenium, tellurium and other deleterious substances and is marketable for fertilizer use, he adds.
Noting that world consumption for fertilizer and industrial use currently exceeds production by 2-3 million tonnes per year and the current price ranges from $90-$135(US) per tonne in Vancouver, he argues that development of the property would make it the largest “volcanic” sulphur source in North America. Permitting for an $85,000 development program consisting of mapping, sampling and trenching is under way, he states.
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