As death toll rises, many remain missing after Helen
Widespread damage left behind by Hurricane Helen was evident across the South on Monday, leaving a wasteland of destroyed homes, crushed cargo containers and mud-covered highways in one of the deadliest storms in U.S. history. It became clear. The death toll exceeded 130. FOX host Josh Breslow’s LiveNOW spoke with Lillian Gorbus of Buncombe County, North Carolina (Asheville) about the impact in her community.
Hurricane Helen shut down two major quartz facilities in Spruce Pine, North Carolina. The storm disrupted power and businesses are focused on employee safety. Spruce pine quartz supplies 70-90% of the world’s silicon chip crucibles.
SPRUCE Spine, N.C. – Hurricane Helen forced the closure of two North Carolina facilities that produce high-purity quartz used to make semiconductors, solar panels and fiber optic cables.
A reopening date has not been announced.
Sibelco and The Quartz Corp operate out of the Appalachian town of Spruce Pine. The facility was closed Thursday ahead of the storm that wiped out entire East Tennessee communities in the western part of the state and across the state line.
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The town is home to a mine that produces some of the highest quality quartz in the world.
U.S. President Joe Biden holds a semiconductor during remarks before signing executive orders on the economy in the State Dining Room of the White House on February 24, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Doug Mills/Pool/Getty Images)
As global demand increases, Sibelco announced last year that it would invest $200 million to double the production capacity of its Spruce Pine plant.
Since the storm, the company has been working to ensure the safety and well-being of all its employees, some of whom are “unreachable due to continued power outages and communication disruptions,” the statement said.
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“Rest assured that Sibelco is actively cooperating with government agencies and third-party rescue and recovery efforts to mitigate the impact of this event and resume operations as soon as possible,” the company wrote. There is.
Quartz wrote that restarting operations is its “second priority.”
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“The health and safety of our employees and their families remains our top priority,” the company said.
Spruce-pine quartz is used around the world to make the equipment needed to make the silicon chips that power all of our digital devices, Vince Beiser, author of “The World in a Grain,” said in an email. He said that
“To make a silicon chip, you first need to melt a highly purified material called polysilicon. It is itself made of a very pure material, does not chemically react with polysilicon, and is also durable. “It’s a tremendous amount of heat that can only be done in a crucible,” he said. “The material of choice for these crucibles is ultra-pure quartz. Spruce spine is the purest source of natural quartz ever discovered on Earth.”
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He said an estimated 70 to 90 percent of crucibles used around the world are made from spruce-pine quartz.
Spruce-Pine City Councilman Wayne Pate said while Spruce-Pine city officials are focused on finding people stranded by the storm, reopening the mine is important to more than just the company operating the facility.
Helen was one of the deadliest hurricanes in the US since 2000.
Former FEMA official Mark Neveau joins LiveNOW’s Andrew Craft to discuss recovery efforts from Hurricane Helen.
Pate estimates that about three-quarters of the town has a direct connection to the mine, whether it’s a job, a mine-dependent job, or a family working at the facility.
“This is what supports our economy,” he said, adding that reopening the facility “is going to be very important” to the people of Spruce Pine.
“If we don’t get cash coming in, especially in counties where we have a lot of people who are already at poverty levels, if that doesn’t happen soon, we’re going to have a really difficult fall and winter,” Pate said. .
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Information in this article was obtained from Associated Press reporting. Further details were provided by statements from Sibelco and The Quartz of North Carolina, as well as local city officials. This story was reported from Los Angeles.
