Demand for Sibelco HPQ – sold under the brand name IOTA
® – continues to increase and is confirmed under long-term sales agreements that include prepayments with customers in the global solar photovoltaic market. Consistent with this market growth, Sibelco has already increased production of HPQ by over 70% from 2019 to 2023 (forecast) through process efficiencies and the initial benefits of the $200 million Expansion 1. In addition, Sibelco has commenced planning towards Expansion 2, a further investment of the order of $500 million to be executed between 2024 and 2027. Expansion 2 is expected to be larger than Expansion 1. These expansions are underpinned by a mine life potential of more than 100 years.
Expansion of installed capacity at Spruce Pine will lead to the creation of valuable new jobs in North Carolina where Sibelco has been operating since the 1970s.
Our investments will ensure that Spruce Pine remains the world’s leading source of HPQ. We are in an excellent position to respond to market demand and ramp up production sustainably thanks to our customers’ appreciation of our high-quality products. We clearly understand that our IOTA® HPQ products play a critical role in the global semi-conductor and solar photovoltaic industries and with Expansion 1 and Expansion 2 we intend to invest an estimated $700 million to provide an unrivalled value proposition to our customers in terms of product quality and availability as well as long-term security of supply.
Hilmar Rode
CEO
About Sibelco
Sibelco is a global leader in material solutions. Sibelco mines, processes, and sells specialty industrial minerals – particularly silica, clays, feldspathics and olivine – and is a leader in glass recycling. Sibelco’s solutions support the progress of modern life and serve industries as diverse as semi-conductors, solar photovoltaic, glass, ceramics, construction, coatings, polymers and water purification. The Sibelco Group has production facilities in more than 30 countries and a team of more than 5,000 people.
About Spruce Pine
Sibelco’s IOTA
® HPQ products are produced at Spruce Pine, which is located in the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina, USA. Mined from two uniquely pure orebodies with a combined mine life potential of over 100 years, Sibelco IOTA
® HPQ products are manufactured in two expandable mineral processing plants and two advanced chemical processing plants. The IOTA
® HPQ products are used to make fused quartz, a material with unparalleled optical, mechanical, and thermal properties that make it indispensable in the manufacture of high purity products such as semi-conductor and photovoltaic crucibles and base materials, quartz lightening and optical fibres.
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