平台严格禁止发布违法/不实/欺诈等垃圾信息，一经发现将永久封禁帐号，针对违法信息将保留相关证据配合公安机关调查！
2010-10-21 23:56
Canaries no longer in coal mines for a reason. The threat of poisonous gas leakages, explosions and collapsing shafts has lessened in recent decades as the industry, led by multinational companies, has improved safety.
For that reason some mining industry professionals have seen the story of the Chilean miners’ rescue as something more sobering than a display of human perseverance. They have queried how a Chilean mining company could have allowed the type of shaft collapse common in the 19th century. “To have that kind of collapse is very unusual,” said one executive at a multinational company that preferred not to be named amid the jubilation in Chile. The accident shows an important division in the world of mining. Global corporations such as Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Vale and Anglo American form one part of it. All of them have poured considerable money and effort into safety improvements – especially in the past 10 years – at their mines. Another part of the industry is smaller scale, without the resources to prioritise mine safety. San Esteban mining company, owner of the San José mine, is in the second category. It is an old mine that was reopened as the copper price rose. “Every time prices go up, there’s a lot of pressure to produce,” said Karen Poniachik, a former Chilean mining minister. “With these high prices we have now, many people go down the mines who are not necessarily miners. “There is more money in being a miner than being a waiter,” she added, but noted that the people rescued from San José were trained miners. In the case of the San José rescue, the multinationals active in Chile chipped in with technol- ogical expertise alongside Codelco, the state mining champion that is the world’s biggest copper miner. Collahuasi, a joint venture between London-listed miners Anglo American and Xstrata, lent a sophisticated T130 drill, which is 23 inches in diameter, to burrow the hole through which the miners were rescued on Wednesday. The rescue hole itself was a feat of engineering – using drilling equipment and techniques in the exploration phase of mining to discover mineral deposits. The Collahuasi joint venture lent the drill and also mining engineers who knew how to drill a human-sized precision hole hundreds of feet underground that needed to reach a small “room” buried under unstable rock. In the course of drilling one of the possible escape holes, a lode of gold was discovered, according to a Swedish drill engineer involved in the drilling on Tuesday night. Codelco was prominently involved in the rescue efforts alongside companies such as Anglo American, which lent satellite phones, a truck and 15,000 litres of fuel. The apparent inability of the San Esteban company to solve its safety problems itself has raised questions. “This mine has a long history of accidents and this mine will not open again unless there are guarantees for the safety of those who work there,” said Sebastián Pi?era, Chile’s president. 煤矿里不再有金丝雀了，这是有原因的。近几十年内，毒气泄漏、爆炸和矿井塌方的威胁已经减小，因为在跨国公司的带领下，采矿业已经提高了安全性。
出于此原因，一些采矿业专业人士认为，智利矿工的救援故事，更是令人警醒的教训，而不是人类顽强意志的体现。他们质疑称，智利矿业公司怎能让19世纪常见的那种矿井塌方发生。 一位跨国公司高管表示：“发生这样的塌方，非常不寻常。”在智利举国欢庆的气氛中，该高管希望不要透露他的姓名。 此次事故突显了采矿业的重要阵营划分。力拓(Rio Tinto)、必和必拓(BHP Billiton)、淡水河谷(Vale)、英美资源集团(Anglo American)等全球企业是其中一个阵营。它们均投入了可观的资金与努力，来提高各自矿井的安全性，尤其是在过去10年内。 另一方是规模较小的矿企，这些矿企缺乏优先考虑矿井安全性的资源。圣何塞铜矿的所有者——圣埃斯特万(San Esteban)矿业公司就属于第二类。随着铜价上升，圣何塞这种老矿被重新开启。 智利前矿业部长卡雷恩?波尼亚奇科(Karen Poniachik)表示：“每次价格上涨，增产的压力就很大。鉴于目前的高价格，许多人会下到矿井去，他们不一定都是矿工。” 她补充表示：“当矿工比当服务生要更赚钱。”但她指出，从圣何塞铜矿中救出来的人，都是经过训练的矿工。 在圣何塞救援行动中，除了智利国有矿业龙头、世界最大铜矿商Codelco以外，活跃于智利的跨国公司也贡献了技术诀窍。 Collahuasi是伦敦上市的两家矿商——英美资源集团与斯特拉塔(Xstrata)的合资企业。它借给智利直径23英寸的先进的T130钻机，用于钻凿救援洞。周三，矿工们正是从这个洞中被救出来的。 救援洞本身就是一项了不起的工程成就——利用钻孔设备与采矿勘探阶段发现矿藏的技艺。 Collahuasi不仅借给智利钻机，而且还出借了矿业工程师。这些工程师知道，如何在数百英尺的地下，钻凿一个人体大小的精密孔，使其抵达不稳固岩层下的狭小“房间”。 据一名参与周二晚间钻孔作业的瑞典钻井工程师表示，在挖掘其中一个可能的救援洞过程中，他们发现了一处黄金矿藏。 Codelco积极参与了此次救援；另外还有英美资源集团等公司，它们出借了卫星电话、一辆卡车、还有1.5万升燃油。 圣埃斯特万公司在解决自己的安全问题上明显无能为力，引发了疑问。 智利总统塞巴斯蒂安·皮涅拉(Sebastián Pi?era)表示：“这座矿长期以来一直频发事故，除非在那里工作的人员的安全得到保证，否则这座矿将不再被开启。” 译者/何黎 |