Spruce Pine
The North Carolina valley the world's ultra-pure quartz depends on.
A small Appalachian town supplies almost all the ultra-pure quartz the world's crucibles are made of. Spruce Pine, North Carolina, has a deposit of a purity found nowhere else at this scale. Two companies mine it, Sibelco and The Quartz Corp. When Hurricane Helene struck in 2024, the mines closed and the chip industry held its breath. They reopened a few weeks later, but the lesson stayed.
Sources
- 2024 North Carolina maker of high-purity quartz back operating post-Helene, Associated Press (WFDD), retrieved 11 October 2026.