Hurricane Helene Update: Impact on High-Purity Quartz Mines in Spruce Pine, North Carolina

Hurricane Helene brought significant flooding across much of the United States’s southeastern region. Among the most severely impacted areas is the small town of Spruce Pine, North Carolina, which is home to two mines owned by Sibelco, a Belgian mining company. From these two mines comes a majority of the world’s high-purity quartz (HPQ), which is vital for semiconductor manufacturing.

The local infrastructure is heavily reliant on a single road leading to the Sibelco mines. Floodwater continues to be problematic, and nearly all of the area is without power. There is no timeframe for when the roads can be safely traveled nor when power will be restored. Based on similar occurrences in the US, floodwaters might not recede for three to five days, and power outages could continue for seven to fourteen days. Only after these immediate threats are mitigated can the flood’s consequences on the mines be evaluated and damages repaired.

About High-Purity Quartz

Geologic formations that occurred eons ago made the crystals in the Spruce Pine area the purest available in the world and ideal for manufacturing processes that use high temperatures.

The mined HPQ is used to make quartz crucibles, which are used to grow semiconductor ingots during the initial stages of wafer fabrication.

Depending on the size of the wafer it is growing, a quartz crucible can weigh anywhere from 5-50 kilograms. Crucibles can typically be used between three and twelve times before deformities or impurities are introduced. Every foundry growing semiconductor ingots uses these crucibles.

Effects of the Shutdown

The full extent of the impact remains uncertain, but any disruptions in quartz supply could significantly impact production. Only a few companies worldwide supply the material—Unimin (Sibelco), The Quartz Corp, and Pacific Quartz. It can also be manmade, but that process is slow and expensive, and the current production capabilities are very low.

In 2023, as the need for semiconductor material increased due to the growth of AI applications, Sibelco began large-capacity upgrades to its two mines in Spruce Pine. The first was due to finish in 2025, and the second, larger upgrade was expected to finish in 2027.

Currently, it is unknown what effects the loss of the facility would have on the market. At this time, it assumed that crucible manufacturers and foundries have 30-60 days of stock of these necessary products plus some buffer stock.

In 2008, a fire at the Spruce Pine facility knocked mining offline for six months. This caused trouble for semiconductor manufacturers, resulting in lengthened lead times, production-rate cuts, and higher prices—but no widespread IC shortages.

We will continue to monitor the situation and share the latest updates as they become available.

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