by Michael
Did you know that a little town in the mountains of North Carolina is the primary worldwide producer of a substance that makes our modern high tech way of life possible? Without the ultra-pure natural quartz that comes from Spruce Pine, North Carolina we would not have the ultra-sophisticated electronic gadgets that we enjoy so much and the global economy would collapse. So is it just a coincidence that Spruce Pine was absolutely devastated by Hurricane Helene?
The two facilities that produce this ultra-pure natural quartz in Spruce Pine are both shut down at this point…
Two North Carolina facilities that manufacture the high-purity quartz used for making semiconductors, solar panels and fiber-optic cables have been shut down by Hurricane Helene with no reopening date in sight.
Sibelco and The Quartz Corp both shut down operations in the Appalachian town of Spruce Pine on Thursday ahead of the storm that swept away whole communities in the western part of the state and across the border in East Tennessee. The town is home to mines that produce some of the world’s highest quality quartz.
Hopefully these facilities will be able to open again before the end of the year, because they are absolutely critical to the global economy.
According to ABC News, it is estimated that somewhere between 70 percent and 90 percent of all crucibles that are used to make silicon chips worldwide are made out of natural quartz from Spruce Pine…
“To make silicon chips, you need to first melt down a highly-purified material called polysilicon. That can only be done in crucibles that are themselves made of a material so pure it will not react chemically with the polysilicon and is also able to withstand enormous heat,” he said. “The best material for those crucibles is ultra-pure quartz. Spruce Pine is the source of the purest natural quartz ever found on Earth.”
An estimated 70-90% of the crucibles used worldwide are made from Spruce Pine quartz, he said.
Without this natural quartz from Spruce Pine, our way of life would change dramatically.
The following comes from a Wired article entitled “The Ultra-Pure, Super-Secret Sand That Makes Your Phone Possible”…
The wooded mountains surrounding it, though, are rich in all kinds of desirable rocks, some valued for their industrial uses, some for their pure prettiness. But it’s the mineral in Glover’s bag—snowy white grains, soft as powdered sugar—that is by far the most important these days. It’s quartz, but not just any quartz. Spruce Pine, it turns out, is the source of the purest natural quartz—a species of pristine sand—ever found on Earth. This ultra‑elite deposit of silicon dioxide particles plays a key role in manufacturing the silicon used to make computer chips. In fact, there’s an excellent chance the chip that makes your laptop or cell phone work was made using sand from this obscure Appalachian backwater. “It’s a billion‑dollar industry here,” Glover says with a hooting laugh. “Can’t tell by driving through here. You’d never know it.”
This is a really big deal.
If the facilities in Spruce Pine are offline for an extended period of time, the entire globe will feel it.
Just consider what happened when a fire caused a quartz mine in Spruce Pine to shut down for a brief period of time in 2008…
In 2008, a fire in Spruce Pine forced a local quartz mine to halt production, which “all but shut off the supply of high-purity quartz to the world market, sending shivers through the industry.” That fire impacted only one plant—the Unimin Corporation Quartz/Feldspar Plant, which has since been acquired by Sibelco—and its impacts were still felt industry wide. Today, demand for semiconductors is much higher than what it was in 2008 as they’re used to power newer technologies like artificial intelligence and 5G connectivity.
Needless to say, what we are facing is far worse than the brief interruption that occurred in 2008.
The mountains of North Carolina are also very important to the lithium industry.
According to CBNC, a mining operation at Kings Mountain “could produce enough material to manufacture 1.2 million electric vehicles annually”…
Kings Mountain could produce enough material to manufacture 1.2 million electric vehicles annually. The mine sits on one of the world’s richest deposits of spodumene ore, a source of lithium. There is currently only one operational lithium mine in the U.S. in Silver Peak, Nevada, which is owned by Albemarle.
Albemarle does not have a precise date for when Kings Mountain will become operational, Norris said. The company is preparing to start the permitting process, which will take two years to complete. Construction will be a multiyear undertaking before the mine is operational, according to the company.
Despite local opposition, Albemarle has been aggressively pushing forward with this project.
And it turns out that Albemarle was recently given a 90 million dollar grant by the Biden administration…
The Biden administration has made setting up a battery supply chain, supported by domestic lithium production and processing, a top priority to end dependence on China, which dominates the global market. Albemarle was awarded a $90 million grant from the Defense Department to support domestic mining, which the company is using to help reopen Kings Mountain.
90 million dollars is a lot of money.
So there is a lot riding on the success of this project.
Interestingly, BlackRock purchased more than 2 million shares of Albemarle less than 2 months ago…
On August 31, 2024, BlackRock Inc., a prominent investment management firm, expanded its investment portfolio by acquiring an additional 2,220,059 shares of Albemarle Corp (NYSE:ALB). This transaction increased BlackRock’s total holdings in the company to 12,183,614 shares, reflecting a significant commitment to Albemarle, a key player in the lithium and chemicals industry. The shares were purchased at a price of $90.25 each, marking a strategic addition to BlackRock’s diverse investment portfolio.
If you want to understand what is really going on out there, just follow the money.
Meanwhile, vast numbers of deeply suffering local residents in the mountains of western North Carolina are still without clean water…
Perhaps the greatest irony of Helene is the dire lack of potable water after the floods. The storm completely destroyed Asheville’s water supply system. Water mains and underground pipes were swept away as the ground itself was removed by the torrent. Not a single building in town can access running water, and citizens survive by the thousands of gallons of water being shipped in every day.
“We need portable water … nobody can flush their toilets, nobody can take a shower, nobody can do laundry. We have no water and the infrastructure for that water is totally destroyed,” Dr. Carly Brown, a primary care physician in Asheville’s River Arts District, told The Epoch Times.
“I haven’t had a shower since last Wednesday. I’m hearing horrible things about [others],” Wendy Feinberg, a 77-year-old retired schoolteacher in Asheville, told The Epoch Times.
Many of the communities that have been destroyed by Hurricane Helene will never be rebuilt.
We have never seen anything like this, and the federal response to this disaster has been extremely poor.
But of course there seems to be plenty of money to send overseas. Just two days ago, Kamala Harris posted the following…
The people of Lebanon are facing an increasingly dire humanitarian situation. I am concerned about the security and well-being of civilians suffering in Lebanon and will continue working to help meet the needs of all civilians there.
To that end, the United States will provide nearly $157 million in additional assistance to the people of Lebanon for essential needs such as food, shelter, water, protection, and sanitation to help those who have been displaced by the recent conflict. This additional support brings total U.S. assistance to Lebanon over the last year to over $385 million.
How tone deaf can she possibly be?
Enormous numbers of victims in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee are not getting the help that they need, but she wants to send 157 million dollars to Lebanon?
Is she serious?
Sadly, this is just the beginning of the chaos that is coming. More historic natural disasters are on the way, global war will intensify, and the upcoming election will cause a tremendous amount of turmoil.
So I would encourage everyone to get prepared while they still can, because you never know when the next major crisis will strike.