RE:Quartz Companyslicksmooth wrote: I-Minerals has mine permit and mine plan with surface mine at very low cost. They have four minerals to mine, one is quartz at 99.97% achieved by physical treatments. They have best quality, closest to west coast quartz from my knowledge.
The mineral mentioned in Agroracom interview that will be difficult for Gen 3 to remove is Titanium which has high boiling point compared to Silicon. So it other lower boiling point impurities removed by Gen 3 then I-Minerals quartz 99.9985%. I think their mine design for 80,000 tons per year.
Some have beneficated quarz by fracturing. I dont know if I-Minerals has tried fracturing.
So, with I-Minerals quartz all Gen 3 has to do to achieve 3N is work as well as Gen 2.
It could be Titanium, but Titanium is ordinarily removed during the directional Solidification stage ( referred to by HPQ and PYR as slow cooling).
My bet is on Boron, which must be below a certain low level for Solar applications of Silicon. It can’t be removed using vacuum or directional Solidification very effectively, and normally needs a separate process to get it down to low enough levels.
IMHO.