Energy metals and petrolithium focused MGX Minerals Inc (CSE:XMG, OTCQB:MGXMF) updated on its expanding silicon portfolio in British Columbia, saying it had acquired a new project - the Gibraltar property.
The site hosts high purity quartzite that consists of snow white coloured, high purity silica that contains greater than 98.8% silicon dioxide and less than 1.2% impurities such as aluminium oxide, iron oxide, magnesium oxide, sodium oxide and potassium oxide.
As consideration, MGX issued 100,000 company shares to the vendors - Glen Rodgers and Andris Kikauka. Kikauka is a director and VP exploration at MGX.
Kikauka is entitled to 50% of the purchase price of the property.
MGX is investigating the potential to source high-grade silica as a feedstock to be used in industrial silicon metal and solar applications.
The main exploration target on Gibraltar includes a moderately dipping, 20-30 meter wide high purity quartzite bed exposed over a strike length of around 420 meters.
Also today, MGX said it had received permits to conduct drill programs at its Wonah and Koot silicon properties in British Columbia.
Thirteen combined drill holes will be sunk, along with a metallurgical program to test the projects for suitability of upgrading to silicon metal and solar grade silicon.
At Wonah, the main target includes the ridge where steeply dipping Ordovician age quartzite is exposed over a strike length of around 850 meters, while at Koot, historic exploration conducted by Cominco (now Teck-Cominco) during the 1980s outlined a mineralized zone spanning around 400 meters consisting of high-purity silicon dioxide (SiO2).
Whole-rock analysis of composite samples in six of seven shallow diamond drill holes returned values ranging between 98.7% and 99.3% silicon dioxide.
Notably, MGX has prioritized development of its silicon projects for silicon metal potential and one of the main uses is in solar panels.
"Solar panels are a cornerstone to remote and distributed energy solutions. Solar, combined with a mass storage system such as that currently under development by the company's wholly-owned subsidiary ZincNyx Energy Solutions Inc," it noted.
ZincNyx has developed a modular storage system using zinc and air to store energy, which has none of the traditional high cost battery commodities such as lithium, vanadium or cobalt.