The disaster, reinforced by global warming, led to the destruction of numerous infrastructures, including road, rail and electricity. Both companies that produce very high purity quartz in Spruce Pine were affected. “From September 26, we have temporarily paused operations in our facilities,” writes the Belgian Sibelco, without giving a resumption date. The very discreet group, which does not publish its production figures, is considered the main producer of very high purity quartz in the world. In 2023, the company announced it would invest $200 million to double production of this critical mineral at Spruce Pine.
At its counterpart The Quartz Corp (TQC), the tone is the same. This joint venture between the Norwegian group Norsk Mineral and its French counterpart Imerys (for which this activity brought in 80 million euros in Ebitda in 2023), is the other to exploit the region’s quartz. Not very keen on advertising, it also does not detail its production and its industrial equipment but highlights on its website the quality of life in Spruce Pine, where there are no less than 60 local breweries.
“It is still too early to assess when TQC will be able to resume operations, as this will depend on the reconstruction of local infrastructure,” explains the company. The group estimates by email that an initial visual inspection suggests that its facilities “have been rather well preserved”, but that its ability “to restart operations will also largely depend on the surrounding infrastructure”.
Digital crucibles
Why worry about these few quarries, when more than 300 million tons of quartz (also known as silica) are extracted each year around the world? As recounted in a long article in the American newspaper Wired published in 2018, the local quartz, made from pegmatites, is unique in the world. Geologically, it contains very few impurities and has a crystallographic structure which allows it to be further purified via different processes, notably acid attacks. Enough to allow Silbeco and TQC to produce ultra-pure quartz sand (or HPQ), composed of 99.999% silicon oxide for the highest qualities.
This material, chemically inert and which does not melt at temperatures below 1700°C, is essential to producers of silicon wafers, these slices of semiconductor metal which serve as a substrate for electronic chips and solar panels. To produce ultra-pure silicon (at 99.999999999% sometimes) and give it the crystal composition they want, this industry needs ultra-pure quartz crucibles. These milky white bowl-shaped containers roughly allow it to melt and transform the metallic silicon without the risk of the walls contaminating it (during a process known as Czochralski).
Sufficient stocks
It is for this vital step that quartz from Silbeco and TQC has almost no rival. According to Bloomberg NEF, the two factories currently shut down produce around 20,000 tonnes per year and are the source of around 80% of the current market, which notably supplies solar power for volume reasons. Hence a certain alarmism, since without crucibles, all the chip and photovoltaic industries would be forced to stop. We are not there yet: the existence of stocks of quartz, crucibles and wafers should ease the shock in the short and medium term, note industrialists in the sector.
“Our crucible suppliers have enough inventory to meet our needs. The supply chain is resilient enough to cope with a disruption,” Taiwanese chip giant TSMC told BNN Bloomberg. “Our understanding is that there is sufficient safety stock in the supply chain to mitigate short-term risks. What’s more, Siltronic maintains its own safety stocks of quartz-based materials to cushion short-term fluctuations,” also specifies the German Siltronic, a large manufacturer of silicon wafers, in a message to the New Factory.
“This story has taken on outsized importance. Stocks will support the industry until the mines reopen, or the production of synthetic quartz increases,” also reacts Jenny Chase, analyst responsible for solar at Bloomberg NEF in an electronic message to L’Usine Nouvelle. The Mitsubishi group, for example, can already produce quartz similar to that of Spruce Pine, but “with significantly higher costs and limited capacity,” notes the analyst. Other companies, in China (Jiangsu Pacific Quartz) and in Russia (Russian Quartz) can also produce high purity quartz, but not necessarily of the quality of that of Spruce Pine.
The restart of the American quartz industry will therefore be closely scrutinized. “The scarcity of high purity quartz will inevitably cause a substantial increase in prices,” predicts Oddo BHF in a recent note. The investment bank analyst, who had already highlighted the value of this high purity quartz activity for Imerys, judges that the dynamics should favor TQC, whose refinery is in Norway and can continue to operate. By email, TQC specifies: “Quartz Corp operates within long value chains, where everyone learned during Covid the importance of having substantial safety stocks. Between our own safety stocks at different locations and those further down the value chain, we are not concerned about the risk of shortages in the short or medium term.
