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(ZeroHedge)—In March, a Wharton professor who studies artificial intelligence and start-ups claimed on X, “The modern economy rests on a single road in Spruce Pine, North Carolina. The road runs to the two mines that are the sole supplier of the quartz required to make the crucibles needed to refine silicon wafers.”
Ethan Mollick noted at the time, “There are no alternative sources known” if supply disruptions were seen in Spruce Pines.
The modern economy rests on a single road in Spruce Pine, North Carolina. The road runs to the two mines that is the sole supplier of the quartz required to make the crucibles needed to refine silicon wafers.
There are no alternative sources known. From Conway’s Material World: pic.twitter.com/mYfrfub8dw
— Ethan Mollick (@emollick) March 9, 2024
Fast-forward to this past weekend across the Western North Carolina area, where a major disaster continues to unfold after tropical system Helene dumped torrential rains and unleashed devastating floods that pulverized entire towns, destroyed roads, highways, and bridges, and left tens of thousands without power.
Absolutely horrid photos coming out of Spruce Pine, NC. right now, as buddies of mine are on the ground helping #Helene victims. pic.twitter.com/35fDndq7iy
— Carolina Patriot (@ACarolinaGuy) September 29, 2024
I have asked for pictures on facebook. I joined the Let’s Talk #SprucePine #NC page. 12K+ Hundreds of families have loved ones unaccounted for…the roads into Spruce Pine are not passable. Bridges are collapsed. People are scared and desperate. Spruce Pine needs the… pic.twitter.com/FttEYIW3Ai
— Gretchen Smith🇺🇸 (@MAGAgpsmith) September 28, 2024
The CSX rail between Erwin, TN and Spruce Pine, TN is unrecognizable, and in some cases, completely missing, lost to the floods created by #Helena. Could take months to open the route again. Terrible thing to happen. pic.twitter.com/QqhrsBDrPz
— Jags Board Game & Movie Guy (@MoviePaul) September 28, 2024
I have friends that live in flood warning areas of Winston Salem NC & Newport & the ones im really worried about live not far out of Spruce Pine NC & cant get a hold of them yet.
Not sure how updated below info is pic.twitter.com/yQJ4yC2WtK— ⊕ֿֿֿֿBliTzer ツ (@blitzer850) September 28, 2024
Just took this pic moments ago from Fox… just short of two *feet* of rain at Spruce Pine… pic.twitter.com/vZySfAvmw7
— 4CatDoc (@4CatDoc) September 30, 2024
Back to Mollick. He shared with his followers a detailed list of the top miners in Spruce Pine, highlighting Sibelco North America, known for producing ultra-high-purity quartz used in refined silicon wafers.
Really nice deep dive into the reasons why Spruce Pine is so important. https://t.co/OdUODRnDOB
— Ethan Mollick (@emollick) March 9, 2024
As of Monday morning, Mollick’s worst fears could be realized as Google Traffic data shows road closures around the Sibelco mining facilities and across the entire region.
A 2018 note from Wired shows just how critical Spruce Pines area mines are for semiconductor production: “A fire in 2008 at one of the main quartz facilities in Spruce Pine for a time all but shut off the supply of high‑purity quartz to the world market, sending shivers through the industry.”
Earlier this year, Tom’s Hardware cited Mollick’s X posts, saying the Wharton professor “provides an excerpt from Conway’s Material World, which discusses the probable “end of computer chip manufacture as we know it,” should something untoward happen at Spruce Pine or in the skies above it.”
Here’s what folks on X are saying about Spruce Pines…
Almost every crystalline silicon photovoltaic module and semiconductor chip made in the world today relies on this mining district in western North Carolina. https://t.co/0U6fAapjiN pic.twitter.com/FiURjlLQoW
— Dustin Mulvaney (@DustinMulvaney) September 29, 2024
Oh joy, what a great time to find out that a massive supply bottleneck for computer chips and solar panels exists right by a river in western North Carolina… https://t.co/CL3AyFH44w pic.twitter.com/gbdlk7BKQQ
— Sean – Alberta Nuclear (@AlbertaNuclear) September 29, 2024
How do I express that I’m concerned about the people of western NC and I’m also concerned about the potential future global economic disaster because Spruce Pine is the sole producer of ultra pure Quartz for crucibles that all global semiconductor production relies on? pic.twitter.com/pcg4bonoJn
— Fossil Locator (@FossilLocator) September 29, 2024
There has been no confirmation from the miner about any disruption. Well, not as of Monday morning.
Mysterious “Skyquakes” Are Causing Strange “Booms” in the Sky, and Scientists Have No Explanation
by Michael Snyder
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The Biggest Sale on Long-Term Storage Beef EVER
by Sponsored Post
Let’s cut to the chase. Prepper All-Naturals is offering an unprecedented 40% off for it’s “Beef Steak” survival bags with promo code “steak40”. With a 25-year shelf life and a single ingredient (beef, of course), our most popular product is available for a very limited time with the biggest discount…
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by PJ Media
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by Slay News
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by Frank Miele
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by Just The News
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Tuesday said that it has issued two flight restrictions on the area surrounding President-elect Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf club in New Jersey, following questionable drone activity. The drone sightings were first reported on Nov. 18, but have continued into this week, according to Fox…
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by Trending Politics
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by Breitbart
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by Trending Politics
The Fulton County Superior Court has ruled against District Attorney Fani Willis, ordering her to disclose communications with Special Counsel Jack Smith and the House January 6 Committee. The decision, announced on Tuesday, follows a lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, which accused Willis of violating Georgia’s…
Lindsey Graham Is the Warmongering NeoCon Leading the Charge to Upend Pete Hegseth
by JD Rucker
Pete Hegseth represents a shift away from the wokeness that has infected the United States military. This is possibly the biggest reason President-Elect Donald Trump tapped him to be the next Secretary of Defense and the vast majority of Republicans on Capitol Hill can support this, at least for the…
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by Nicole Silverio, DCNF
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Zelensky Admits Ukraine Can’t Retake All Its Land: ‘We Must Seek Diplomatic Means’
by Breitbart
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky conceded in an interview on Tuesday that Ukraine does not have “enough forces” to restore sovereignty over Russian-occupied Crimea and “must seek diplomatic means” to end the Russian invasion and regain its land. The state-run Ukrinform outlet reported that Zelensky described Crimea – which Russia colonized…
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by Olivia Cook
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by Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge
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by Zero Hedge
Several weeks of mysterious drone swarms over the skies of one New Jersey county near the military research and manufacturing facility Picatinny Arsenal have sparked concerns among residents and prompted an FBI investigation. “It’s kind of unsettling,” Mike Walsh, a Morris County resident who has spotted the drones on numerous…
UNESCO’s New Mission: Train Influencers About Combatting Online “Misinformation”
by Reclaim the Net
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is now incorporating teaching influencers how to “fact check” into its activities. UNESCO claims that influencers have become “primary sources of news and cultural information” around the world – which prompted it to carry out a survey into how these online personalities…
