Product catalogue
High Purity Quartz in Australia for Silicon Production
High-purity quartz (HPQ) is the only naturally occurring and economically viable source for the production of silicon. Silicon is a critical mineral, and a key component in modern technologies such as semiconductors and photovoltaic cells. Critical minerals support the move towards a greater reliance on electrification, renewable energy sources and economic security. The global transition to net zero carbon emissions means there is a growing need for new discoveries of HPQ to supply the silicon production chain. HPQ deposits are identified in a multitude of geological settings, including pegmatites, hydrothermal veins, sedimentary accumulations and quartzite; however, deposits of sufficient volume and quality are rare. Quartz is abundant throughout Australia, but the exploration and discovery of HPQ occurrences are notably under-reported, making assessment of the HPQ potential in Australia extremely difficult. This paper presents a much-needed summary of the state of the HPQ industry, exploration and deposit styles in Australia.
KEY POINTS:
1. High-purity quartz (HPQ) is a key material for the manufacture of photovoltaic cells, semiconductors and other high-technology applications.
2. HPQ can be recovered from a variety of different source rocks in a range of geological settings.
3. Currently, the HPQ industry in Australia is under-utilised for high-technology applications, and historical exploration and mining records are under-reported and opaque.
4. This review presents an outline of the characteristics, processing requirements and end uses of HPQ, and a summary of the operations, deposits, exploration targets and known occurrences of HPQ in Australia.
<b>Citation:</b> Jennings, A., Senior, A., Guerin, K., Main, P., & Walsh, J. (2024). A review of high-purity quartz for silicon production in Australia. <i>Australian Journal of Earth Sciences</i>, 1–13.
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Creation)
- 2023-06-28T12:00:00
- Date (Publication)
- 2024-08-20T05:08:26
- Citation identifier
- Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/148594
- Cited responsible party
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Author Jennings, A.
Internal Contact Author Senior, A.
Internal Contact Author Guerin, K.
Internal Contact Author Main, P.
Internal Contact Author Walsh, J.
Internal Contact Publisher informa uK limited trading as Taylor & Francis Group
External Contact
- Name
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Australian Journal of Earth Sciences
- Purpose
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This paper was produced for publication in the Critical Minerals Special Edition of AJES. The purpose of the paper is to identify quartz deposit types in Australia and internationally that can be exploited for the purpose of producing silicon.
- Status
- Completed
- Point of contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Resource provider Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division
External Contact Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Point of contact Senior, A.
Internal Contact
- Spatial representation type
- Topic category
-
- Geoscientific information
Extent
))
- Maintenance and update frequency
- As needed
Resource format
- Title
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Product data repository: Various Formats
- Website
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Data Store directory containing the digital product files
Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes
- Project
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critical minerals
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- Keywords
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silicon
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high purity quartz
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Mineral deposit
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mineral systems
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- theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
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Resource geoscience
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photovoltaics
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semiconductor
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renewable energy
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net zero
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Published_External
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Resource constraints
- Title
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
- Alternate title
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CC-BY
- Edition
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4.0
- Addressee
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details User Any
- Use constraints
- License
- Use constraints
- Other restrictions
- Other constraints
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© 2024 crown copyright in the commonwealth of Australia.
Resource constraints
- Title
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Australian Government Security Classification System
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
- Classification system
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Australian Government Security Classification System
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Distribution Information
- Distributor contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Distributor Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice facsimile
- OnLine resource
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Link to Journal
Link to Journal
- Distribution format
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Resource lineage
- Statement
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<div>This paper is a review and interpretation of publicly available reports, datasets and geology to establish an understanding of potential high purity quartz sources, deposit types and mineral systems for silicon production in Australia. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div>
Metadata constraints
- Title
-
Australian Government Security Classification System
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
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urn:uuid/4cd7b946-b618-4b0f-9a21-5f4ad6446172
- Title
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GeoNetwork UUID
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
- Contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Point of contact Senior, A.
Internal Contact
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Document
- Name
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Journal Article / Conference Paper
Alternative metadata reference
- Title
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Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with
uuid
- Citation identifier
- eCatId/148594
- Date info (Creation)
- 2024-08-20T02:47:49
- Date info (Revision)
- 2024-08-20T02:47:49
Metadata standard
- Title
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AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
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ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
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ISO 19115-3
- Title
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Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014
- Edition
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Version 2.0, September 2018
- Citation identifier
- http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551