2007年VOA标准英语-Guinea Strike Threatens Bauxite Exports

By Phuong Tran
Dakar
24 January 2007

While talks sputter¹ to end Guinea's deadly two-week nationwide strike, the country's main export industry is starting to feel the effects. Guinea is the world's largest exporter of bauxite², the raw material used to make aluminum³. Phuong Tran reports from VOA's West Africa bureau in Dakar on how the strike in Guinea is affecting the global aluminum market.

Before the strike started, several ore trains a day carried thousands of tons of bauxite from Compagnie des Bauxite de Guinee mines in the hills of Sangaredi to a processing plant at Kasmar. Cargo⁴ ships then took the bauxite to refining plants overseas to be turned into aluminum.

But some of the more than 2,500 workers at CBG have stopped trains carrying bauxite to the port as part of the nationwide strike.

Union leaders began the strike 15 days ago to protest what they call the erratic⁵ and corrupt⁶ rule of President Lansana Conte.

Compagnie des Bauxite de Guinee, known as CBG, is owned by the Guinean government and majority investor⁷ U.S.-based Halco Mining Incorporated. One of Halco's biggest shareholders⁹ is Alcoa World Alumina, also based in the United States.

 
Large rolls of aluminum are cooled before they get cut to order size at the Alcoa Warrick Operations in Newburgh, Indiana, April 2006
Alcoa's director of corporate⁸ communications, Kevin Lowery, says he is monitoring the situation.

"The general strike going on has obviously touched base with operations at CBG," he said. "Workers have participated in the work stoppage. People should understand that while this is a serious situation, this is the third strike in Guinea this year."

Previous strikes though ended quickly. Lowery says the company is waiting to see if it will need to go to a back-up plan.

"We may be able to start pieces of the operation back up with skeleton staff. It is a very fluid situation. The company has many contingency¹⁰ plans and if we need to implement¹¹ them we can," he said.

A U.S.-based aluminum analyst¹² does not see cause for alarm, even though some London traders reported this week that prices in Europe for alumina - a component¹³ of aluminum - have increased. He says that there is plenty of bauxite in the world to make aluminum.

The analyst did not want to be identified for this report, because he said he did not want to be perceived as affecting world prices.

He says that though the quality of Guinea's bauxite is the best, the strike would only affect prices slightly because bauxite is produced in other countries. He says other countries produce lots of bauxite, but have their own refineries¹⁴ and export less.

CBG has exclusive rights through 2038 to bauxite reserves and resources in the northwestern part of the country.

 
Protesters march during a demonstration¹⁵, part of a general strike in Conakry, 22 Jan 2007
Some union leaders have vowed¹⁶ to continue the near-total work stoppage until President Conte cedes¹⁷ power, while others have expressed a willingness to explore alternatives that will break the stalemate.

The strikes turned deadly on Monday when a security crackdown on demonstrators left about 30 people dead.

1 sputter   

n.喷溅声；v.喷溅

参考例句：

• The engine gave a sputter and died.引擎发出一阵劈啪声就熄火了。
• Engines sputtered to life again.发动机噼啪噼啪地重新开动了。

2 bauxite   

n.铝土矿

参考例句：

• Aluminum is made from bauxite.铝是从铝土矿中提炼出的。
• The United States was vulnerable to shortages of chrome,bauxite,and platinum.美国的弱点是缺少铬、矾土和铂。

3 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

4 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

5 erratic   

adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的

参考例句：

• The old man had always been cranky and erratic.那老头儿性情古怪,反复无常。
• The erratic fluctuation of market prices is in consequence of unstable economy.经济波动致使市场物价忽起忽落。

6 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

7 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

8 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

9 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

10 contingency   

n.意外事件，可能性

参考例句：

• We should be prepared for any contingency.我们应该对任何应急情况有所准备。
• A fire in our warehouse was a contingency that we had not expected.库房的一场大火是我们始料未及的。

11 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

12 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

13 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

14 refineries   

精炼厂( refinery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The efforts on closedown and suspension of small sugar refineries, small saccharin refineries and small paper mills are also being carried out in steps. 关停小糖厂、小糖精厂、小造纸厂的工作也已逐步展开。
• Hence the sitting of refineries is at a distance from population centres. 所以，炼油厂的厂址总在远离人口集中的地方。

15 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

16 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

17 cedes   

v.让给，割让，放弃( cede的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• MILWAUKEE, Feb. 29, 2008? Rockwell Automation will acquire the Safety and Automation business of CEDES AG. 密尔沃基2月29日消息——罗克韦尔自动化将收购CEDES公司的安全和自动化业务。 来自互联网
• Any system that cedes those rights will lead to anarchy. 任何割让那些权利的体制都将导致政治混乱。 来自互联网