High-purity quartz is the raw material for high-grade quartz products and forms the material foundation for high-end products in the silicon industry. Due to its excellent physical and chemical properties, such as high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, low thermal expansion, high insulation, and light transmission, it is widely used in high-tech industries such as photovoltaics, electronic information, optical communication, and electric light sources. It holds an important position and role in strategic emerging industries.
Currently, there are only a few companies worldwide that can supply high-purity quartz sand, including the top 3 manufacturers of Unimin (Sibelco) in the United States, TQC in Norway, and Pacific Quartz in China.
| Company | Main product | Features and advantages |
| Sibelco | High-purity quartz and its glass products, including glass containers, tableware, packaging, special glass, etc. | An absolute monopoly in the global market |
| TQC | High purity quartz, feldspar, mica, high purity quartz products, etc. | Annual production of 30,000 tons of high-purity quartz |
| Pacific Quartz | High purity quartz, quartz tubes and rods, quartz crucibles, etc. | Annual production of 20,000 tons of high-purity quartz (2021) |
Unimin (Sibelco), US
Company Overview
In the current global quartz industry, Sibelco (formed by the merger of Unimin and Santrol into Covia in 2018, with Sibelco as Covia’s holding parent company) holds an absolute dominant position. Sibelco monopolizes the international market for high-end quartz sand products with 4N8 purity and above, capturing over 90% of the global market share and maintaining absolute control over quartz sand prices.
IOTA high purity quartz standard from Sibelco
| IOTA-STANDARD | 99.998% Pure Silica: Produces low-expansion coefficient transparent quartz glass. Applied in high-temperature sealing mercury lamps, halogen lamps, and low-cost commercial-grade semiconductor quartz products. |
| IOTA-4 | 99.999% Pure Silica: Produces quartz glass with unique precision and anti-devitrification capabilities. Applied in process tubes, wafer processing, quartz blocks, and peninsula-type silicon pots for pulling monocrystalline silicon. |
| IOTA-6 | 99.9991% Pure Silica: Produces quartz glass. Low-alkali quartz products, diffusion tubes, and CZ-type crucibles where solid impurities are not allowed to diffuse. |
| IOTA-8 | 99.9992% Pure Silica: Produces ultra-high-purity quartz glass. Used for 12-inch or larger wafers, designed for demanding applications. Primarily used in large-diameter crucibles to improve viscosity, with very stable crucible walls, and high purity reduces the need for synthetic linings. |
Main Products
Sibelco primarily produces and sells quartz, feldspar, nepheline syenite, olivine, calcium carbonate, clay, kaolin, lime, and limestone products. Sibelco’s silica (quartz), a chemically inert mineral with a high melting point, finds extensive applications in glass, ceramics, construction, and metallurgy. The company’s silica products include dry, wet, low-iron, and calcined sand varieties.
Sibelco’s cristobalite, a high-temperature polymorph of high-purity quartz, is produced through calcination and iron-free grinding at 1500°C. Sibelco’s cristobalite boasts strong advantages in whiteness and durability, making it widely applicable in engineered stone, coatings, and polymers.
Mineral Sources
Sibelco’s high-purity quartz sand raw material is sourced from the Spruce Pine area in North Carolina, known for its white granite-type high-purity quartz ore. This is the only high-purity quartz deposit globally affected by the Alleghany greenstone belt movement, characterized by a large ore body, low fluid impurities in quartz, and stable ore quality. The mining rights for the Spruce Pine deposit are currently held by Norway’s TQC and Sibelco North America (formerly Unimin). Unimin has been mining in this area since 1970, and holding the mining rights to the Spruce Pine deposit has been a major factor in Unimin (Sibelco)’s rise to global dominance.
TQC, Norway
Company Overview
Since 1996, Norwegian TQC has been producing high-purity quartz in Western Norway, operating several underground and open-pit mines. TQC has integrated the U.S. branch of Inglewood Ceramics, KT Feldspar Company, and Feldspar Company, forming a new company that produces quartz, feldspar, and mica products through a merger with Norwegian Crystal, a quartz production company. TQC’s high-purity quartz products are mainly used in the semiconductor, solar, optical, lighting, and bioactive glass fields.
Main Product from TQC
| NC4XF | Low-alkali, ultra-high-purity fine-grain quartz: Suitable for flame-fused semiconductor ingots, semiconductor crucibles, optical fiber preforms, and high-end solar applications. |
| NC4X | Low-alkali, ultra-high-purity coarse-grain quartz: Suitable for electrically fused semiconductor ingots and large-diameter crucibles. |
| NC4AF | Fine-grain products: Suitable for photovoltaic Czochralski crucibles, semiconductor ingots, and other applications requiring high technical standards. |
| NC4ACG | High-strength calcined products: Provide thermal stability for applications requiring prolonged high-temperature use. |
| NC4A | Ideal for Czochralski crucibles and large-diameter quartz tubes and ingots. |
| Q4 Micro Range | A range of high-purity quartz products: Featuring ultra-fine particle size and strictly controlled narrow particle size distribution. |
| Q4DH | A standard particle size product: Suitable for the photovoltaic industry and the outer layer of short-life quartz crucibles for small and medium diameter quartz tubes. |
Mineral Sources and Production Capacity
The high-purity quartz mined and processed by TQC is among the purest in the world, primarily sourced from the high-purity quartz in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, known for its virtually impurity-free pegmatite formation. The company is licensed to produce 30,000 tons of high-purity quartz annually in Norway.
Pacific Quartz, China
Company Overview
Pacific Quartz is a high-end quartz material deep processing enterprise that integrates scientific research, production, and sales. The company was founded in 1992 and listed on the main board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange A-shares in 2014.
Production of Pacific Quartz
| Product | Lines | Annual capacity for each line (t/a) | Total annual capacity (t/a) |
| Quartz tube, quartz rod | 44 | 239 | 10,500 |
| High purity quartz sand | 2 | 15,000 | 30,000 |
| Quartz crucible | 2 | 20,000 | 40,000 |
Main Products
The company leads the industry in both market share and technology for quartz materials used in the fields of lighting, photovoltaics, optical fibers, optics, and semiconductors. The main products include high-purity quartz sand, quartz tubes (rods), large-diameter quartz diffusion tubes, quartz cylinders, quartz ingots, quartz plates, and various quartz devices.
In the lighting field, the main products are quartz tubes and rods for special light sources, quartz tubes and rods for automotive light sources, and quartz tubes for infrared light sources. In the optical fiber field, the products include fiber-grade casing tubes, fiber-grade furnace core tubes, fiber-grade quartz tubes, and fiber-grade quartz rods. In the semiconductor field, the main products are semiconductor-grade quartz tubes, semiconductor-grade quartz rods, semiconductor-grade quartz cylinders, semiconductor-grade quartz ingots, semiconductor-grade quartz plates, quartz ceramic round crucibles, and semiconductor-grade quartz sand. In the optical field, the main products are synthetic quartz materials for ultraviolet optics, standard optical quartz materials, and quartz materials for infrared optics. In the photovoltaic field, the main products are solar-grade quartz tubes, solar-grade quartz rods, solar-grade opal quartz ingots, and solar-grade quartz sand.
Mineral Sources and Production Capacity
The quartz stone used by the company is mostly purchased from external sources, with 93.32% of the quartz stone being imported in 2021, mainly from countries and regions such as Brazil, Africa, India, and the United States. The main suppliers are relatively stable, and long-term framework agreements have been signed.
Pacific Quartz has a complete industrial chain layout from high-purity quartz sand to electronic-grade quartz tube and rod materials and downstream quartz devices. As of the end of March 2022, the company has an annual production capacity of 10,500 tons of quartz tubes and rods, 30,000 tons of high-purity quartz sand, and 40,000 tons of quartz crucibles.
