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a u g u s t / s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 6 www.resourceworld.com 19 Exceptional skill and expertise throughout every step of your project. 418 423-4241 | general@fournierindustries.com | www.fournierindustries.com HpQ SILICON RESOURCES pLANS SILICON MINING/METAL pRODUCTION HPQ Silicon Resources [HPQ-TSXV] (for- merly Uragold Bay Resources) is seeking to become a producer of high-purity quartz grading over 99% SiO 2 from its Roncevaux property in the Matapedia Valley of Québec's Gaspé region. Ultimately, it also wants to become a vertically-integrated producer of silicon metal at 98.5% Si; high-purity silicon metal at 99.99% Si; solar-grade silicon metal at 99.9999% Si; and/or a producer at 99.9999999% Si. Quartz from the projects Malvina and Roncevaux has already passed the testing protocols of "a major silicon metal producer," which confirmed HPQ Silicon's material was suited to their production parameters. The company is partnered with PyroGenesis Canada Inc. [PYR TSXV], with exclusive worldwide rights to use PyroGenesis' proprietary Purevap Quartz Vaporization Reactor (QVR) technol- ogy. This is an alternative to the Siemens method of producing high-purity silicon but has a lower capital cost, operating cost and a lower carbon footprint. On April 19 it announced early test results of Purevap QVR had demonstrated its ability to transform high-purity quartz into silicon metal. It also noted the validation program was in its second stage, whereby the reactor's operational parameters would be adjusted to transform HPQ Silicon quartz into solar-grade purity silicon. Further progress was reported on June 29, with the first batch of samples produced by Purevap QVR utilizing quartz from the Martinville property assessed by the INRS- ETE laboratories in Québec City. HPQ Silicon reported 22 different readings of 100% Si had been observed, the figure recorded as such because the impurities levels were too low for INRS-ETE's detection methodologies. The company noted this first-pass work confirmed Purevap's ability to create high purity silicon metal that exceeds 99.9+% Si. The samples have been sent to a special- ized laboratory in the US to determine the silicon metal's precise purity levels. "These test results represent a significant milestone as one of the key goals of our proj- ect has been reached – the establishment of a high purity silicon (99.9%+) baseline for the material produced by the reactor," HPQ Silicon Chairman and CEO, Bernard Tourillon, said. "Reaching our goal of trans- forming HPQ Silicon quartz into solar-grade purity silicon seems even more attainable." The company's development program will now move beyond metallurgical test- ing into a research and development phase that is focused on improving the Purevap QVR beneficiation capability. The primary objective is to determine maximum purity and advance to a pilot plant stage. Concurrently, HPQ Silicon is seeking to spin out its Beauce gold project located in the municipality of Saint-Simon-les-Mines in the Beauce region, southern Québec. The project comprises 6 km-long unconsolidated gold-bearing sedimentary units and holds the largest placer gold deposit in eastern North America, according to the company. n QuébEC