VOA慢速英语：加拿大公司将在格陵兰岛开采稀土矿

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计划在格陵兰岛开发一个稀土矿。采到的材料将被送往爱沙尼亚，爱沙尼亚是中国之外仅有的两个高稀土加工厂之一。
 
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.
稀土是用于制造电动汽车、风力涡轮机、电子产品、机器人和其他机械的矿物。中国目前加工的稀土约占世界稀土总量的85%，日益增长的需求促使公司寻找其他来源。
 
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 总部位于加拿大多伦多。这家稀土加工公司最近表示，它计划在格陵兰岛西南部开发 Sarfartoq 矿床。然后，将把这些材料送到东欧爱沙尼亚的工厂。
 
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 的目标是让矿山在两到三年内正常运行。这将是该公司的第一个大型采矿项目。该公司负责人康斯坦丁·卡拉扬诺普洛斯表示，他希望通过开设该矿，保护公司免受快速波动的稀土价格的影响，近年来由于供应问题和强劲的需求稀土价格上涨。
 
"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.
“我们受制于市场，”他说。“At the mercy of”是一种表达方式，表示处于被动的位置或情况，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.
卡拉扬诺普洛斯称他的公司的决定是“因为商业，与地缘政治无关”。但近年来，稀土引起了世界各国政府的关注。美国、欧洲和日本将其对中国稀土的依赖称为“国家安全风险”，并试图寻找不同的供应商。
 
But such efforts have faced difficulties, as mines in other countries have faced opposition or failed to start after changing prices scared investors away.
但这些努力面临困难，因为其他国家的矿山遭到了反对，或在价格变化吓跑了投资者后未能开工。
 
Concerns and supply issues
担忧和供应问题
Meanwhile, supplies of rare earths have decreased. And some mines are raising moral and environmental concerns.
与此同时，稀土供应减少。一些矿山引发了道德和环境问题。
 
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，稀土开采会破坏环境。中国是世界上最大的矿业国，近年来关闭了许多矿山，以减少对环境的破坏。
 
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.
其中一些采矿项目已经流向缅甸。缅甸矿山与环境破坏、土地盗窃和民兵融资有关，其中至少有一个与缅甸军政府有关。该信息来自本月早些时候发布的美联社调查。
 
The AP traced rare earths from Myanmar to the supply chains of 78 companies, including major car makers and electronics companies.
美联社追踪了从缅甸到78家公司供应链的稀土，其中包括大型汽车制造商和电子公司。
 
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.
卡拉扬诺普洛斯说，该公司计划在格陵兰挖掘岩石，将其粉碎并进行不涉及使用破坏性化学品的基本加工。然后将矿石运往爱沙尼亚，在那里进一步加工成可用于制造磁铁的形式。
 
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.
在选民上台阻止发展的政府后，在格陵兰建立另一个稀土矿的计划失败了。该地区的铀含量很高，引发了人们对如何处理放射性废物的担忧。
 
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.
卡拉扬诺普洛斯说，他的公司计划开发的地区铀含量要低得多，这意味着可以根据格陵兰岛和欧盟的现行规则开采。他说，欧盟官员支持该项目，因为它可以帮助欧洲在稀土方面变得更加自给自足。
 
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.
格陵兰位于大西洋和北冰洋之间。170 万平方公里的冰盖覆盖了北极地区80%的面积。格陵兰岛的 56,000 名居民大多是土著居民。
 
I'm John Russell.
约翰·拉塞尔报道。