- The Spruce Pine area in North Carolina's Mitchell County has some of the purest quartz deposits in the world.
A pair of quartz mines in Spruce Pine, Mitchell County, North Carolina have temporarily suspended operations following the devastating flooding from Hurricane Helene, the company announced in a press release.
Significantly, the world’s semiconductor industry hinges on these particular mines and refining facilities. Owned by Belgian company Sibelco, they supply nearly all of the world’s high purity quartz used by the technology industry to build the microprocessors which power our modern lives.
“Hurricane Helene has significantly impacted North Carolina, USA, and the Spruce Pine community has been hit particularly hard,” begins the statement. “The hurricane has caused widespread flooding, power outages, communication disruptions, and damage to critical infrastructure in the area. Many people in the area, including our employees and their families, are facing displacement and significant disruptions.”
The area surrounding the mining operations, extending to the general western North Carolina region, is reeling after Hurricane Helene caused catastrophic flooding and landslides, wiping some mountain towns off the map. Death tolls are rising as officials work to clear debris, restore road access, and repair cell and water services.
“We have confirmed the safety of most employees and are working diligently to contact those still unreachable due to ongoing power outages and communication challenges,” the company announced. “As of September 26th, we have temporarily halted operations at the Spruce Pine facilities in response to these challenges. Please rest assured that Sibelco is actively collaborating with government agencies and third-party rescue and recovery operations to mitigate the impact of this event and to resume operations as soon as possible. Our top priority remains the health, safety, and well-being of our employees, as well as ensuring the security of the Spruce Pine facility. Our thoughts are with everyone affected by Hurricane Helene, and we thank you for your understanding during this time.”
The Spruce Pine area has some of the purest quartz deposits in the world. The deposits are mined and refined and used by companies like General Electric to make ultra-high-purity quartz crucibles that serve as a critical component to make the mono-crystalline silicon wafers at the heart of everything from cell phones, to solar panels, to artificial intelligence.
The Sibelco mines, along with a local mine in the area owned by the Quartz Corp., have quietly become an industry juggernaut as they supply nearly 99% of all high-purity quartz. That ultra-high concentration of such a critical material supply piqued interest before the advent of Hurricane Helene; now the worst case scenario seems to be playing out as western North Carolina resident struggle for help following the floods.
The modern economy rests on a single road in Spruce Pine, North Carolina. The road runs to the two mines that is the sole supplier of the quartz required to make the crucibles needed to refine silicon wafers.
There are no alternative sources known. From Conway’s Material World: pic.twitter.com/mYfrfub8dw
— Ethan Mollick (@emollick) March 9, 2024
“The total amount of high‑purity quartz produced worldwide each year is estimated at 30,000 tons—less than the amount of construction sand produced in the United States every hour,” wrote WIRED magazine in 2018 about the Spruce Pine operations. “Only Unimin knows exactly how much Spruce Pine quartz is produced, because it doesn’t publish any production figures. It is an organization famously big on secrecy.”
Unimin is the Sibelco subsidiary that runs the “mine and refine” operation. What used to be mom-and-pop shops, mining the (lower quality) quartz and feldspar for more mundane uses like construction sand and materials (the famous white sand traps at Augusta National are filled with silica from Spruce Pine mines), is now dominated by an international corporation that keeps as quiet as the surrounding rural mountain communities.
The worry is a longterm closure at the Spruce Pine mines — almost all major road access has been affected by the flooding and landslide damage — could majorly disrupt the whole semiconductor industry.
Sibelco has not indicated how long the closure will last, but emergency officials are currently still engaged in search and rescue operations as the isolated mountain communities were inundated by biblical flood events.
If the operations were closed for weeks, or months, are there alternatives for the tech industry to source the ultra-high-purity quartz?
Possibly. According to one analysis, suppliers/consumers already have a buffer inventory of several months. Additionally, competitors with mines in South Carolina and new synthetic production of the high-purity quartz crucibles may step into the void.
First – inventory levels for raw wafer companies are currently low, but even then, there’s ~3 months of DIO at Globalwafers and Siltronic and 8 months of DIO at SUMCO. Existing inventory is a buffer.
Can mining activities restart within 3 months?
Probably.
2/8 pic.twitter.com/8VBotac758— SemiAnalysis (@SemiAnalysis_) September 30, 2024
The coming days will ultimately reveal more about the extent of infrastructure damage and how soon utilities and road access will be restored to countless areas. Tragically, the loss of life in the mountain communities of North Carolina is mounting.
For a more in depth look at the Spruce Pine mines and why they’re at the center of the modern technological universe, go here.