MGX Minerals Inc revealed that it has received a formal proposal for the design, engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning of a 15-tons-per-day (TPD) silicon metal pilot processing plant at its Gibraltar Silicon project in British Columbia.
The current price of silicon metal freight on board (FOB) in east China is US$3,035 and has remained constant around US$3,000 for an extended period, according to Metals.com.
There have been global supply chain shortages of silicon products including microchips, solar panels, silicon carbide steel, and other silicon metal-based products, noted the company. This has affected a wide variety of industries and placed greater importance on domestic mine-to-market supply chains, it added.
The Vancouver-based resource company has an off-take agreement in place with Dong Bang Metals of South Korea.
Gibraltar Silicon asset
Metallurgical testing on a one-ton sample from the company’s Gibraltar Silica deposit, located 95 kilometers (km) northeast of Cranbrook, British Columbia, has indicated that the material is chemically suitable, medium-quality feedstock, for metallurgical-grade silicon, said the company.
The sample was crushed and screened into fractions between 20–120 millimeters (mm) for evaluation of the applicability of these fractions as feedstock for metallurgical-grade silicon production. MGX noted that the results indicate that the material, after comminution and classification fraction, is of high initial purity (99.5 wt.-%), making the fraction chemically suitable medium-quality feedstock material for metallurgical-grade silicon metal production.
The Gibraltar Silica property covers a sedimentary clastic-carbonate rock package located near the confluence of Kootenay and White River. Sedimentary rocks generally have a north-northwest strike, but locally a north-northeast strike is prominent. Two westerly dipping thrust faults (Hay, Carter, 1988) are believed to run north-south close to the eastern edge of the Gibraltar property.
MGX has completed 5 drill holes at Gibraltar. The holes were at the Red Cloud (Gibraltar) quarry that was operated on a small scale in 1967. The objective of the drill program was to test the subsurface dimensions of high-purity quartzite. The Gibraltar North Zone has been sampled, mapped and the area located about 400m north of the south zone, represents the continuation of the Mount Wilson Formation quartzite, said the company.
Investors can find Gibraltar drill results in a tabulated form here.
Koot Silica project
The company’s Koot Silica project is located around 5 km from Gibraltar. The 2018 core drilling and geochemical sampling were carried out to evaluate the mineral potential in a 180m by 600m area (elongated northwest), located in the east portion of the Koot Silica property in the area where quartzite is well exposed on a low relief ridge. This coincides with the general area where Cominco Ltd Drilled eight holes in 1981, said MGX.
Investors can find comprehensive exploration drill results from 2018 here.
Meanwhile, MGX said that thanks to its accountant Malaspina Consulting addressing the final audit items, the company expects to complete the audit by the end of the month.
Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
Follow her on Twitter: @UttaraProactive