ASQ is targeting metallurgical grade silicon quartz (MGSi) at its recently established Gilbert Ranges Project, located 290km west of Townsville in Far North Queensland. MGSi quartz is defined as lump quartz feedstock suitable for the manufacture of metallurgical grade silicon. High grade quartz of this type is required by the solar silicon manufacturing industry as a precursor feedstock to produce MGSi.
The Gilbert Ranges Project has reasonable access via the Kennedy Developmental Road and local well-formed gravel roads, with the final stretch on graded cattle station roads. The project is strategically located within trucking range of both the major bulk export port at Townsville and the nearby proposed Lansdown Critical Minerals Processing facilities.
ASQ identified the Gilbert Ranges location following regional reconnaissance and satellite imagery assessment, which suggested large scale quartz occurrences were present. This has since been confirmed on the ground and by rock chip results. Quartz occurrences in the permit area are common; initial focus has been on the area sampled, where creek lines and small bluffs expose heavily sericite-altered, silica-rich metamorphic rocks on the south-facing flanks of a large-scale ridge, with exposed outcrops revealing large volumes of quality quartz.
Late in 2025, ASQ collected 26 rock chip samples over an area covering 1.4km x 1.0km under a granted interim Prospecting Permit. Results were highly encouraging, with mineralisation identified in multiple zones along a 1.3km section of hillside. Fifteen of the 26 rock chip samples recorded greater than 99.4% SiO2, with consistently low iron and alumina concentrations. The best sample, ASQGM025, returned 99.85% SiO2, 0.11% Al2O3 and 0.03% Fe2O3.
(ASQ (2026). Encouraging Hardrock Quartz Results. ASX Release 22 January 2026, as referenced in ASQ's March 2026 Quarterly Activities Report, ASX Release 29 April 2026.)
ASQ also continues to hold the nearby Quartz Hill MGSi Project in Far North Queensland, containing a 17.3Mt Mineral Resource (Indicated and Inferred) at 99.04% SiO2, reported in accordance with JORC 2012 as at December 2023. MGSi quartz export market assessments across ASQ's Queensland quartz portfolio are underway.
Once exploration permit EPM 31299 is granted and land access agreements have been established, ASQ plans to progress exploration at Gilbert Ranges. MGSi quartz market considerations will be assessed and, if justified, drilling with the aim of establishing a mineral resource estimate will be undertaken.
The information in this document that relates to exploration results and mineral resources is based on data collected under the supervision of Mr Nick Algie, in his capacity as Exploration Manager for Australian Silica Quartz Group Limited. Mr Algie is a registered member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) and has sufficient experience relevant to the type of deposit and style of mineralisation under consideration to qualify as a Competent Person under the 2012 edition of the "Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves". Mr Algie consents to the inclusion in this page of matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.
For full details, see ASQ's ASX Announcements (Encouraging Hardrock Quartz Results, 22 January 2026) and the March 2026 Quarterly Activities Report.
