A small town in North Carolina’s backwater will help fuel the world’s AI revolution — with enough quartz to power the entire $530 billion global semiconductor industry

The expansion of a quartz mine is giving new life to a small, desolate town in North Carolina that is now poised to become a powerhouse for the world’s AI revolution.

Sibelco’s mines have been extracting quartz from Spruce Pine since the 1970s, but the $500 million investment between now and 2027 will boost global demand for semiconductors.

The expansion comes as Nvidia has become the largest global semiconductor chip maker, holding about 80 percent of the global market share last year.

The global quartz market value reached $8.5 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach nearly $18.7 billion by 2031, with China surpassing other countries as the largest customer.

Sibelco’s mining sites are located in the small town of Spruce Pine, about two hours northwest of Charlotte, and by increasing production of high-purity quartz, the U.S. will become the primary supplier of the mineral.

High-purity quartz is an essential part of building semiconductor chips that help AI-powered software process large amounts of data quickly and accurately and is used in mobile phones, laptops and other electronic devices.

The quartz must be very pure because if there are any imperfections it can hinder the effectiveness, speed and accuracy of the semiconductors.

Nvidia currently dominates the market as the top chipmaker and was the first to reach a $2 million market cap last month thanks to a surge in hardware needed to power AI models.

Spruce Pine is the only known place in the US that can meet the growing need for semiconductor chips, which is increasing at 5.6 percent annually.

This is the second expansion announcement in less than a year, with Sibelco confirming it will invest $200 million in April 2023 and the mine will be completed in 2025.

Spruce Pine is a small town located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and is home to 2,200 residents, up from 2,700 residents in 2018.

The city has seen a decline in sales as the number of tourists visiting the area has slowly declined, causing a number of major retailers and restaurants to close their doors.

After a renowned chef closed his Knife & Fork restaurant, local media wondered if this could be part of a growing trend.

But now a long-closed movie theater and empty storefronts line the streets of downtown, leaving the two mines as the predominant leaders in town.

In 2019, the company was up for DEQ permit renewal and residents pushed for permit changes after a nearby quarry, Quartz Corp. illegally dumped hundreds of gallons of hydrofluoric acid into the nearby North Toe River.

The city relies on its forested areas and picturesque streams to attract tourists, but residents complained that not enough was being done to protect the river’s water quality.

Sibelco has bragged that it is ‘in an excellent position to respond to market demand and sustainably increase production thanks to our customers’ appreciation of our high-quality products.’

The company also claimed that the expanded mining area will create valuable new jobs in North Carolina and “ensure Spruce Pine remains the world’s leading source of HPQ.”

Quartz is extracted from the earth by first using explosives in open-pit mines to expose the deposits. However, the mineral is sensitive to sudden changes in temperature and can be damaged if removed too quickly.

After the quartz veins are exposed, miners attempt to extract the mineral using bulldozers to remove the surrounding soil and clay.

The miners use hand tools to remove the crystals, which are then crushed and ground into a fine powder.

Other minerals found in the area include mica, kaolin and feldspar, which have been mined from the area for centuries.

The extraction of the valuable minerals began 380 million years ago when Indians dug tunnels into the mountainside to extract mica – a mineral substance today used in the insulation of electrical cables and as asphalt and cement filler.

Kaolin is a type of white clay used to make rubber, paper and paint, while feldspar is used as a glaze for glassmaking and ceramics.

Geologists estimate that the Spruce Pine Mining District was formed when Africa and North America collided millions of years ago, causing intense friction and generating heat that reached about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, some nine to ten miles below the Earth’s surface .

The combination created a mineral-forming fluid, which cooled and crystallized over 100 million years, and as the plate shifted beneath the Appalachians, it again eroded the rock, leaving the valuable minerals on the surface.

The lack of water at the friction point prevented quartz from developing impurities, making it the high-purity mineral needed to make AI chips.

Impurities in quartz are incredibly common and roughly affect the TK of the mineral, making it useless for making semiconductors.

“I’ve evaluated thousands of quartz samples from all over the world,” said John Schlanz, chief mineral processing engineer at the Minerals Research Laboratory in Asheville. WIRED.

‘Almost all of them have contamination in the quartz grains that you cannot get out.’

In October, the global quartz market was valued at $4.8 billion, but is expected to reach $7 billion by 2030, a study shows. Rational state analysis.

Dailymail.com has contacted Sibelco for comment on the expansion.