HPQ Silicon Resources, “HPQ” (formerly URAGOLD) .20 cents, is a Quebec based mineral company focusing on their substantial quartz deposits and the potential of transforming its raw quartz into High Purity Silicon Metal. But let’s explain a few things here. This is our opinion but of course there are no guarantees at this stage and time. 

 

Most importantly                                                                                                                                   HPQ Silicon owns the largest deposits of high purity quartz in Quebec which is in our opinion most noteworthy. In 2012, we recommended HPQ (then Uragold) when it was selling at .04 cents; our analysis indicated that it was overlooked and we were impressed with its management.

 

Why the exceptional investment interest now?                                                                                    HPQ’s substantial quartz deposits in Quebec and its ownership of a potential ground-breaking technology that could revolutionize the manufacturing of High Purity Silicon is the primary reason.  While Quartz is the second most common element in the earth’s crust, only exceptionally high purity quartz can be converted to high purity silicon. The process of converting quartz to “high purity silicon” has historically been an expensive and challenging process which is why it carries a very high price in the world market. Thus, the focus has been determining whether HPQ’s pure quartz can be “converted” into high purity silicon in one step using their “PureVap Quartz Reduction Reactor.”

 

 

The first stage of the testing was done at the “Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique” in Quebec City; the results confirmed the transformation to high purity silicon metal from its quartz in all the run-through tests.

 The reason for further testing is to determine if the process can bring the high purity silicon to an even higher purity level. The reason for sending the samples to a more advanced lab is that although the present results show extremely low impurity levels, proving and confirming even superior purity levels require the proficiency of a laboratory with highly advanced detection capabilities. Keep in mind that the focus is confirming purity to a 1/10,000 level. (One ten thousandth ). Target: a 99.9999% purity level.

 

 

High purity silicon is used extensively in solar panels; Silicon for the solar market is much bigger than Silicon in electronics. That is the significance of “high purity” solar grade silicon which brings a very high price. It is presently selling at between US$12,500 to US$ $16,000 per ton, depending on its final purity.  The “PureVap” process (Patent Pending) is new and effective with never before seen cost efficiency. Results have totally been in line with positive expectations. We have seen delays recently, but most importantly no failures.

 

Again, a Major point                                                                                                                                             Why more testing? The tests are done by  Montreal based “Pyrogenisis” at different operational settings to identify the most efficient way to transform quartz to produce Solar Grade Silicon Metal at 99.9999% pure Silicon and to meet the next major goal, scaling up the process to commercial viability. 

      To date, test results have shown that it has exceeded 99.9% purity. Note well that 98.5% pure Silicon is a $6 billion dollar industry and solar grade Silicon is an additional $6 billion industry. We estimate that 99.9+% Silicon already produced would sell today at between US$2,000 to US$5,000 per ton. If we are correct, that is not a small mark up from our estimated price for HPQ’s raw quartz of approximately US$50 per Ton.  Key point? Management believes that a 99.9999% Silicon purity is an achievable target over the coming months. Yet it must be confirmed by the ongoing laboratory tests.

 

Background Summary: Pure silicon carries a very high price.  The Pyrogenisis “PureVap” process is a totally new technology. The bottom line will be the results of the further analysis of the samples. (Key: Pyrogenisis does the conversion process with the U.S. lab located in upstate New York analyzing the purity). The results have been in line with positive expectations. We have seen delays but most importantly no failures thus far.

 

Final Comment: The objective is transforming HPQ’s Quartz into Solar Grade Purity Silicon. Thus far, the results are excellent. We give management a great deal of credit for what they have accomplished.

 

 

 HPQ’s press release worth noting: “Of significant interest is the fact that 22 different readings of 100% Silicon were observed. This can be attributed to the fact the impurity levels of the samples are so low that they were below the impurity detection level of the method utilized. This first pass analytical process confirms the ability of the PUREVAP™ process to create high purity silicon metal exceeding 99.9% and the samples will now been sent to a specialized laboratory in the United States to determine the precise purity levels of the Silicon Metal.”