VOA慢速英語：寶馬加入改善剛果鈷礦開采條件的項目

BMW Joins Project to Improve Mining Conditions in Congo

寶馬加入改善剛果鈷礦開采條件的項目

German carmaker BMW is exploring ways to improve working conditions at cobalt mines in Congo.

德國汽車制造商寶馬公司正在探索改善剛果鈷礦開采條件的途徑。

Cobalt is a hard, shiny metal that is often mixed with other metals. It is very rare but extremely important to the production of batteries.

鈷是一種堅硬、有光澤的、通常與其它金屬混生。鈷很稀有，但是它對電池生產(chǎn)非常重要。

Wireless electronics, such as mobile phones, currently use most of the world's cobalt. But a single electric car requires about one-thousand times more cobalt than a mobile phone.

手機之類的無線電子產(chǎn)品目前使用了全球大部分的鈷。但是，單是一輛電動汽車所需要的鈷就比手機高出一千倍。

Carmakers are hoping to increase sales of electric cars but are struggling to get the metal.

汽車制造商們都希望提高電動汽車的銷量，但是都很難獲得鈷這種金屬。

The world's largest known supplies of cobalt are found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

全球已知最大的鈷儲備來自剛果民主共和國。

BMW said the project is seeking ways to improve working and living conditions in places where the metal is mined through manual labor. The company is working on the project with chemical company BASF, battery maker Samsung SDI and German development agency GIZ.

寶馬公司表示，該項目正在尋求途徑，來改善人工開采鈷礦的工人的工作和生活條件。該公司正在同巴斯夫化學公司、電池制造商三星SDI以及德國發(fā)展機構(gòu)GIZ合作開展該項目。

The project will work on one trial mine within the next three years, BMW said. The company will not directly buy cobalt from the mine, it said. Instead, the mine will be operated by a local cooperative.

寶馬公司表示，該項目未來三年將在一家礦區(qū)試行。該公司不會直接從該礦購買鈷，相反，該礦將由當?shù)氐暮献髌髽I(yè)經(jīng)營。

BMW said, if effective, the measures could be used to improve systemic problems at other mines as well.

寶馬公司稱，如果這些措施有效，它們也可以用于改善其它礦的系統(tǒng)性問題。

Manual operations are responsible for about 20 percent of the cobalt mined in the DRC. Industrial mining operations account for the rest.

人工開采占到了剛果鈷開采量的20%，工業(yè)開采占據(jù)了剩余部分。

But many companies involved in both kinds of cobalt mining have been accused of environmental, health and safety and human rights violations.

但是很多同時涉及兩種鈷礦開采模式的公司在環(huán)境、健康和安全、以及侵犯人權(quán)方面受到了指責。

I'm Alice Bryant.

愛麗絲·布萊恩特報道。