VOA慢速英語：加拿大公司將在格陵蘭島開采稀土礦

A Canada-based company recently announced its plans to develop a rare earth mineral mine in Greenland. Materials from the mine will be sent to Estonia, which has one of only two plants outside China that processes rare earths to a high degree.
加拿大一家公司最近宣布計劃在格陵蘭島開發(fā)一個稀土礦。采到的材料將被送往愛沙尼亞，愛沙尼亞是中國之外僅有的兩個高稀土加工廠之一。
 
Rare earths are a group of minerals used in making electric vehicles, wind turbines, electronics, robots and other machinery. China currently processes about 85 percent of the world's rare earths. But increased demand is pushing companies to look for other sources.
稀土是用于制造電動汽車、風力渦輪機、電子產(chǎn)品、機器人和其他機械的礦物。中國目前加工的稀土約占世界稀土總量的85%，日益增長的需求促使公司尋找其他來源。
 
Neo Performance Materials is based in Toronto, Canada. The rare earth processing company said recently that it plans to develop the Sarfartoq deposit in southwest Greenland. It will then send the materials to its plant in Estonia in Eastern Europe.
Neo Performance Materials 總部位于加拿大多倫多。這家稀土加工公司最近表示，它計劃在格陵蘭島西南部開發(fā) Sarfartoq 礦床。然后，將把這些材料送到東歐愛沙尼亞的工廠。
 
Neo aims to have the mine running in two to three years. It will be the company's first big mining project. Constantine Karayannopoulos, the company's chief said that by opening the mine, he hopes to protect the company from fast-moving rare earth prices, which have increased in recent years due to supply problems and strong demand.
Neo 的目標是讓礦山在兩到三年內正常運行。這將是該公司的第一個大型采礦項目。該公司負責人康斯坦丁·卡拉揚諾普洛斯表示，他希望通過開設該礦，保護公司免受快速波動的稀土價格的影響，近年來由于供應問題和強勁的需求稀土價格上漲。
 
"We're at the mercy of the market," he said. "At the mercy of" is an expression that means you are in a position or situation in which you can be harmed by something you cannot control.
“我們受制于市場，”他說。“At the mercy of”是一種表達方式，表示處于被動的位置或情況，可能是受害方。
 
Karayannopoulos called his company's decision "business, not geopolitics." But in recent years, rare earths have attracted the attention of officials around the world. The United States, Europe and Japan call their dependence on China's rare earths a "national security risk" and have tried to find different suppliers.
卡拉揚諾普洛斯稱他的公司的決定是“因為商業(yè)，與地緣政治無關”。但近年來，稀土引起了世界各國政府的關注。美國、歐洲和日本將其對中國稀土的依賴稱為“國家安全風險”，并試圖尋找不同的供應商。
 
But such efforts have faced difficulties, as mines in other countries have faced opposition or failed to start after changing prices scared investors away.
但這些努力面臨困難，因為其他國家的礦山遭到了反對，或在價格變化嚇跑了投資者后未能開工。
 
Concerns and supply issues
擔憂和供應問題
Meanwhile, supplies of rare earths have decreased. And some mines are raising moral and environmental concerns.
與此同時，稀土供應減少。一些礦山引發(fā)了道德和環(huán)境問題。
 
When done cheaply, rare earth mining can damage the environment. China, the world's largest miner, has closed many mines in recent years to reduce environmental damage.
如果成本低廉，稀土開采會破壞環(huán)境。中國是世界上最大的礦業(yè)國，近年來關閉了許多礦山，以減少對環(huán)境的破壞。
 
Some of that mining has gone to Myanmar. Myanmar mines are linked to environmental damage, land theft, and financing of militias, including at least one linked to Myanmar's military government. That information comes from an Associated Press investigation released earlier this month.
其中一些采礦項目已經(jīng)流向緬甸。緬甸礦山與環(huán)境破壞、土地盜竊和民兵融資有關，其中至少有一個與緬甸軍政府有關。該信息來自本月早些時候發(fā)布的美聯(lián)社調查。
 
The AP traced rare earths from Myanmar to the supply chains of 78 companies, including major car makers and electronics companies.
美聯(lián)社追蹤了從緬甸到78家公司供應鏈的稀土，其中包括大型汽車制造商和電子公司。
 
Karayannopoulos said that in Greenland, the company plans to dig up rock, crush it and do basic processing that does not involve the use of damaging chemicals. The ore will then be shipped to Estonia, where it will be further processed into a form that can be used to make magnets.
卡拉揚諾普洛斯說，該公司計劃在格陵蘭挖掘巖石，將其粉碎并進行不涉及使用破壞性化學品的基本加工。然后將礦石運往愛沙尼亞，在那里進一步加工成可用于制造磁鐵的形式。
 
Plans for another rare earths mine in Greenland failed after voters put in power a government that blocked development. The area has high amounts of uranium, raising concerns over how radioactive waste would be dealt with.
在選民上臺阻止發(fā)展的政府后，在格陵蘭建立另一個稀土礦的計劃失敗了。該地區(qū)的鈾含量很高，引發(fā)了人們對如何處理放射性廢物的擔憂。
 
Karayannopoulos said the area his company plans to develop has much lower levels of uranium, meaning it can be mined under current Greenland and European Union rules. He said EU officials supported the project because it could help Europe become more self-sufficient in rare earths.
卡拉揚諾普洛斯說，他的公司計劃開發(fā)的地區(qū)鈾含量要低得多，這意味著可以根據(jù)格陵蘭島和歐盟的現(xiàn)行規(guī)則開采。他說，歐盟官員支持該項目，因為它可以幫助歐洲在稀土方面變得更加自給自足。
 
Greenland sits between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. A 1.7 million-square-kilometer ice sheet covers 80 percent of the Arctic territory. Greenland's 56,000 residents are mostly indigenous people.
格陵蘭位于大西洋和北冰洋之間。170 萬平方公里的冰蓋覆蓋了北極地區(qū)80%的面積。格陵蘭島的 56,000 名居民大多是土著居民。
 
I'm John Russell.
約翰·拉塞爾報道。