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由于涉及海洋生态环境问题,深海矿产开发一直颇具争议。但即使反对声音不绝于耳,开发也已是箭在弦上。工程师们部署了三套机器人,计划从巴布亚新几内亚(PNG)1500米海底处获取高级铜矿和金矿——如果一切按计划进行,世界上第一个商业化性质的深海矿产开发项目将会在2016年启动。就在4月下旬,经过多年的谈判和讨价还价,PNG政府与加拿大鹦鹉螺矿业公司(Canada-based Nautilus Minerals)签署协议,将共同致力于推动这个雄心勃勃的项目。而PNG政府也出资3.27亿基纳(约合1.2亿美元)收购了该矿产项目15%的股权。“我们很高兴(完成交易)。”鹦鹉螺公司首席执行官Mike Johnston如是说。但并非所有人都像Johnston这么乐观,至少众多批评家和科学家就不买账。深海的“诱惑”近年来,深海矿产勘查活动主要集中在日本西部、PNG、新西兰和澳大利亚等几个国家的领海内。
Deep-sea mineral development has been controversial due to its implications on the marine environment. But even if there’s so much opposition, development is on the trail. Engineers have deployed three robots and plan to acquire advanced copper and gold mines from the 1,500 meter undersea of Papua New Guinea (PNG) - and if everything goes according to plan, the world’s first commercial deepwater mineral development project will Launched in 2016. In late April, after years of negotiation and bargaining, the PNG government signed an agreement with Canada-based Nautilus Minerals to work together to promote this ambitious project. The PNG government also invested 327 million kina (about 120 million US dollars) acquired a 15% stake in the mineral project. “We are very happy (the completion of the transaction) ” said Mike Johnston, CEO of Nautilus. But not everyone is so optimistic about Johnston that at least many critics and scientists do not buy it. Deep Sea “temptation ” In recent years, deep-sea mineral exploration activities are mainly concentrated in the territorial waters of western Japan, PNG, New Zealand and Australia.