Silicon

Gibraltar is located approximately 95 kilometers northeast of Cranbrook, BC.  The Gibraltar quartzite unit is located in the foreland thrust zone of the Hughes Range of the Rocky Mountains. It 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. Minor folding was noted in the carbonate sequence immediately adjacent to quartzite unit. Two westerly dipping thrust faults (Hay, Carter, 1988) are believed to run north-south close to the eastern edge of the Gibraltar property.

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The Company has completed 5 drill holes at Gibraltar. The holes were located at the Red Cloud quarry that was operated on a small scale in 1967. The objective of the drill program was to test subsurface dimensions of high purity quartzite. 

A one-ton sample of quartzite was from Gibraltar was shipped to an independent lab Dorfner Anzaplan, in Germany, for mineralogical analyses through X-ray diffraction analysis, chemical analyses through X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, grain size distribution, mineral processing analysis, automated optical sorting, and thermal stability testing. The sample was crushed and screened into fractions between 20–120 mm for evaluation of applicability of these fractions as feedstock for metallurgical-grade silicon production.  Results indicate that the material, after comminution and classification fraction, is of high initial purity (99.5 wt.-%), making the fraction chemically suitable as medium quality feedstock material for metallurgical-grade silicon metal production.