SPRUCE PINE, N.C. â Flooding in a small town in Mitchell County, North Carolina, could send shockwaves through the global semiconductor industry.
Spruce Pine is a town of 2,200 residents. It's also the site of the world's highest quality quartz deposits, a major component of the tiny chips that power everything from smartphones to cars.
Helene and its precursor rains dumped between 20 and 25 inches of rain in in the Spruce Pine area, according to WCNC Weather Impact Chief Meteorologist Brad Panovich. Mitchell County leaders said Sunday that rain led to a "catastrophic 500-year flood," damaging or destroying "a good bit of the county infrastructure."
Quartz producers Sibelco and The Quartz Corp paused operations at their respective facilities on September 26th in preparations for Helene.
As of Thursday, representatives for both companies said that all employees have been accounted for and are safe. Sibelco said its facilities only sustained "minor damage" while The Quartz Corp said damage at its plants is "mostly concentrated around ancillary units."
Both companies said it is too early to assess when operations will resume but added that they do not expect supply chain disruptions as a result of their closures.
The Quartz Corp wrote that they "operate a long supply chain and like many organizations we added more focus on our resilience planning post-Covid." The company said that feed stock has been established in Norway to supply purification operations and that safety stocks of finished products exist at different levels throughout the supply chain.
Sibelco said its final product stock has not been impacted, adding that it is working closely with customers to assess needs. The company plans to restart shipping products "as soon as we can."
The quartz mined in Spruce Pine is used for fused quartz crucibles and tubing. Those are used to create fabricated quartzware for the semiconductor wafer process.
"For now, our focus is on reconstruction and support to our community in Mitchell County who has been so deeply hurt," The Quarts Corp officials wrote in a release Wednesday. "Our thoughts with the ones suffering."
"Our thoughts are with all those affected by Hurricane Helene," Sibelco officials wrote in a release Thursday. "We extend our gratitude to our employees, the first responders, and the construction crews who are working tirelessly on recovery activities in the region."
According to Sibelco, geologists believe that the mining district in Spruce Pine was created about 380 million years ago when Africa collided with North America. That collision, caused intense friction and heat, creating rich mineral-forming liquid that cooled and crystallized overtime.
For those who want to help, WCNC Charlotte has partnered with the American Red Cross to help gather donations to go to efforts that will help people impacted by Helene and with the nonprofit Operation Airdrop to get much-needed supplies to the mountain counties. Here's how you can help people impacted by Helene.