Mr. Bernard Tourillon reports

URAGOLD ACQUIRES SILICA CLAIMS DIRECTLY ADJACENT TO SITEC SILICIUM QUEBEC QUARTZ MINE

Uragold Bay Resources Inc. has acquired, through map staking, two silica claims directly adjacent to the Sitec Silicium Quebec quartz mine located in the Charlevoix region of Quebec. The Sitec Silicium Quebec quartz mine supplies silica for the Sitec silicon metal foundry in Becancour and for the Elkem Metal Canada ferro-silicium foundry in Chicoutimi, Que.

Quebec Quart, Uragold's wholly owned subsidiary, intends to explore the claims for quartzite extensions to the north of the Silicium Quebec mine. The Galette sector of the Charlevoix region is known to hold high-purity quartzites. The regional geology comprises paragenesis and pink garnetiferous granite with units of discernable quartzites within the paragenesis.

Patrick Levasseur, president and chief operating officer of Uragold, stated, "This is another great addition to our significant portfolio of high-quality silica properties." Mr. Levasseur then added, "We continue to develop Quebec Quartz's exciting high-purity silica projects while developing two gold mines in the Beauce region of Quebec."

About silica

Quartz (silicon dioxide) is one of the most abundant minerals. It occurs in many different settings throughout the geological record. High-purity quartz deposits with low impurities are rare. However, only very few deposits are suitable in volume, quality and amenability to tailored refining methods for specialty high-purity applications.

High-purity silica and silicon metal, which are used in large part in the aluminum industry, have become some of today's key strategic minerals with applications in high-tech industries that include semiconductors, LCD displays, fused quartz tubing, microelectronics, solar silicon applications, and recently, silicon anode lithium batteries.

Frac sand is a durable, high-purity quartz sand used to help produce petroleum fluids and prop up man-made fractures in shale rock formations through which oil and gas flow; the demand is exploding.

The need for frac sand is turning this segment into the top driver of value in the shale revolution, and this is having a major impact across all high-purity quartz markets, as material once used to meet the needs of high-tech industries is being diverted to this market to meet product shortage.

"One of the major players in Eagle Ford is saying they are short six million tons of 100 mesh for frac sand alone in 2014, and they do not know where to get it. And that is just one player," Rasool Mohammad, president and chief executive officer of Select Sands Corp., told Oilprice.