Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Helium

One dodged, one hit.

We dodged a bullet with Hurricane Helene. The high purity quartz from Spruce Pine Mining District was only offline long enough for semiconductor supply chain nerds to notice. No pure quartz, no crucibles, no chips.

Qatar’s Ras Laffan helium plant was not so lucky. A third of the global supply is now offline due to a missile strike. There is a lot of concern, but nobody can predict what will happen, or when. There are simply too many moving pieces to this, and some of the ones on this map are inclined to shoot at each other. That’s Ras Laffan in the red bullseye in the northeast corner of Qatar.

If you want all the ugly details Nate B. Jones took a swing at it.