The NC town that manufactures quartz for tech products is devastated by Helene

SPRUCE PINE, NC (AP) — Two plants in North Carolina that produce high-purity quartz used to make semiconductors, solar panels and fiber optic cables have been closed by Hurricane Helene, with no reopening date.

Sibelco and The Quartz Corp shut down operations in the Appalachian town of Spruce Pine on Thursday ahead of the storm that swept through entire communities in the western part of the state and across the border in eastern Tennessee. The city is home to mines that produce some of the finest quartz in the world.

With global demand rising, Sibelco announced last year that it would invest $200 million to double capacity at Spruce Pine.

Since the storm, the company has simply worked to confirm all of its employees are safe and accounted for, according to a statement, as some were “unreachable due to power outages and communication challenges.”

“Please be assured that Sibelco is actively working with government agencies and third-party rescue and recovery operations to mitigate the impact of this event and resume operations as soon as possible,” the company wrote.

Quartz Corp wrote that restarting operations is “the second order of priority.”

“Our top priority remains the health and safety of our employees and their families,” the company wrote.

Spruce Pine quartz is used around the world to make the equipment needed to make the silicon chips that underlie all of our digital devices, Vince Beiser, author of “The World in a Grain,” said in an email.

“To make silicon chips, you first have to melt a highly purified material called polysilicon. This can only be done in crucibles that are themselves made of a material so pure that it will not react chemically with the polysilicon and is also able to withstand enormous heat,” he said. “The best material for these crucibles is ultra-pure quartz. Spruce pine is the source of the purest natural quartz ever found on Earth.”

An estimated 70-90 percent of the crucibles used worldwide are made from spruce quartz, he said.

Spruce Pine city officials are focused on locating people stranded by the storm, said Spruce Pine Councilman Wayne Peight, but reopening the mines is important to more than just the companies behind the facilities.

Peight estimated that about three-quarters of the city has a direct connection to the mines, whether it’s a job, a job that relies on the mines or a family member who works at the facilities.

“It’s the foundation of our economy,” he said, and getting the facilities back on track “is going to be extremely critical” to the people of Spruce Pine.

“If there’s no money, especially in a county with as many people on the poverty line as we already have, we’re going to have a very tough fall and winter if that doesn’t happen quickly,” Peight said.

Photo: An aerial view of the quartz mines in Spruce Pine. (AP Photo/Gary D. Robertson)

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