Spruce Pine, North Carolina, is one of the few places in the world for mining high-purity quartz, a key component needed for making microchips, solar panels and fiber-optic cables. But destruction ...

An aerial look at the quartz mines in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, taken prior to Tropical Storm Helene. Google Maps Two weeks after shutting down its Spruce Pine facilities ahead of Hurricane ...

An aerial view of quartz mines in Spruce Pine, N.C., as taken from a plane on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. Photo: AP One of the two companies that manufacture high-purity quartz used for making ...