HPQ Silicon Inc V.HPQ

Stay Long and Prosper IMHO !

[Oden6570]

Beyond traditional commodities like copper and nickel, our critical minerals value chain is still in its infancy. It will be most impactful to the objectives of the Strategy if the List is considered a tool to build critical minerals capacity, with the understanding that these are not yet fully formed markets. Rather than focusing on the economics of the critical minerals value chain, which already present a rather significant barrier to growth in the open market, a leader in mining and clean technology such as Canada should prioritize the development of technologies and projects that will move that needle. For example, Canada’s critical mineral list does not include silicon, a common inclusion in our partners’ lists—including the EU, the UK, and Australia—as it is a key component in February 16, 2024 semiconductor manufacturing. While Canada has significant silica reserves, refining the raw material into saleable silicon is an energy-intensive process, and it is unlikely that any silicon refinery could establish operations in Canada using current technologies. Yet if this rationale is used to keep silicon off our critical minerals list, there will be little incentive to conduct exploratory studies or other research into new processing technologies. Granting criticality to minerals like silicon poses few risks, but could bring enormous rewards, in this case the potential to develop Canada’s semiconductor industry.

pdac-submission-to-let's-talk-canada's-critical-minerals-list-and-methodology.pdf