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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.
October September Surprises
by American Greatness
An October surprise is usually defined as the well-known (and more often left-wing) tactic of manufacturing or unloading a news story right before voting to surprise a rival without allowing them time sufficiently to respond or recover. Think of the last-minute bombshell disclosure, five days before the 2000 election, that…
Spiciest One-Minute Take On Entire COVID Sham: It Was All About Hysterical Female Energy
by Revolver News
There’s an intriguing argument being made about the COVID pandemic response, and it’s coming from a rather unexpected source—a woman. She suggests, in about one minute, that the entire reaction to the virus was driven by a distinctly female worldview. Honestly, this is the spiciest and best take we’ve ever…
NATO Prepares Mass Evacuation and Rescue Plans as Senior General Warns of World War 3 With Russia
by The Gateway Pundit
NATO is mobilizing its resources and strategic plans in anticipation of a potential all-out war, as articulated by Lieutenant-General Alexander Sollfrank, head of NATO’s logistics command. This urgent preparation underscores a grim reality: the specter of World War III is looming. In these two and a half years of war…
With the threat of a port strike and other disruptions to the medical supply chain, it behooves Americans to consider stocking up on long-term storage chronic medications, antibiotics, and other meds.
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Get Ready for Another Mail-in Ballot Fiasco
by Daily Signal
Many states are sending out mail-in ballots now for the Nov. 5 presidential election. Yet at the same time that so many more voters are depending on the mail to cast their ballots, the two leading national organizations of election officials wrote the U.S. Postal Service to demand immediate action…
Fact Check: Springfield, Ohio, Claims Haitian Migrants Are ‘Legal.’ Are They?
by Daily Signal
The Rust Belt community of Springfield, Ohio, now has a page on its website dedicated to answering common questions about the flood of illegal aliens, mostly Haitians, who have arrived there in recent years. “The City of Springfield has experienced a surge in our population over the last several years,…
United Nations JUST APPROVED the framework for a One World Government
by Glenn Beck
The United Nations kicked off its 2024 General Assembly by approving a group of game-changing proposals that are practically the framework for a One World Government. Glenn’s co-author for “The Great Reset,” “Dark Future,” and his upcoming book, “Propaganda Wars,” Justin Haskins, joins to break down what this “Pact for…
Reality Check: Has Telegram Bowed to Global Censorship Overlords After Founder’s Arrest in Paris?
by World Tribune
Less than a month after he was arrested by French authorities in Paris, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov announced the messaging app would bow to Western governments’ requests to provide Telegram users’ personal information. On Sept. 23, Durov said Telegram will provide users’ IP addresses and phone numbers “to relevant political…
‘Evidence Free’: Puberty Blocker Recommendation May Break Law, 21 Ags Warn Pediatrician Group
by Daily Wire
A group of nearly two dozen state attorneys general is warning the American Academy of Pediatrics that it may be breaking the law by continuing to recommend puberty blockers to children who are unhappy with their biological gender despite evidence the drugs cause harm. On Tuesday, the 21 attorneys general,…
FTC: Tech Giants Collecting Massive Amounts of Data From Kids and Teens
by Ava Grace, Natural News
(Natural News)—The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has disclosed in a report that tech giants are collecting massive amounts of data from their young users. The FTC report published Sept. 19 expounded on how social media and streaming companies endanger children and teens who use their platforms. It also showed how “the tech industry’s…
The Vast Pharmaceutical Conspiracy to Silence Dissent Online
by A Midwestern Doctor
Story at a Glance: There has been a coordinated campaign to attack and defame anyone who has spoken out against the COVID-19 response. This has primarily been restricted to social media (e.g., getting people deplatformed) but it has also been weaponized in real life (e.g., getting medical licenses revoked). This…
Busted: Will Media Ignore Coke Censoring ‘President Trump’ but Greenlighting ‘President Harris’?
by Newsbusters
Here’s a story the liberal media won’t cover: Leftist soda giant Coca-Cola seems to have made it clear where its political loyalties lie for the 2024 election, and it may have violated federal election law in the process. When MRC researchers attempted to customize a “Personalized 12 fl oz. Can…
Texas Warns Venezuelan Prison Gang “Activity Happening Across State”
by Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge
(Zero Hedge)—Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg took to X on Tuesday. He wasn’t speaking about the need for racial equity in America’s highways or woke activism in the FAA, but he attempted to persuade the internet that “crime is down.” What a ‘weird’ topic for Buttigieg to discuss with X users,…
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