Companies mining high-purity quartz in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, have paused operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. The quartz is a critical component of the chip-making process — and it's only found in Spruce Pine.
The two mining companies in the area, Sibelco and The Quartz Corp, confirmed that flooding, power outages, and employee displacement have led them to stop their work. In a statement on its website, Sibelco confirmed that it has "temporarily halted operations at the Spruce Pine facilities in response to these challenges" since September 26th.
The Quartz Corp also posted a statement online saying the company paused operations on September 26th, and that it has "no visibility on when they will restart." Last week, Hurricane Helene dumped two feet of rain on Spruce Pine and caused catastrophic damage throughout the mountain towns of western North Carolina.
Spruce Pine has the only naturally occurring quartz that's pure enough to serve as a crucible to melt polysilicon. The polysilicon is then used to create silicon wafers — the foundation of the semiconductors found in phones, laptops, solar panels, and more. In 2008, a Spruce Pine fire halted mining operations, "sending shivers" through the chip industry, according to a report from Wired.
It's too early to tell what kind of impact the paused operations will have on the chip-making supply chain, but as we've seen in the past, it doesn't take much to disrupt it.
Found on Mainstream News