中資礦企掘金馬來西亞"鐵山"

BUKIT BESI, Malaysia — Giant mining equipment has stripped away the palm trees and other vegetation from a jungle bluff here with a Malay name that translates to “Iron Hill.” Huge power shovels gouge long furrows down cliffs of fuchsia clay, scooping out the shiny black iron ore at their base.

馬來西亞龍運鐵山——這本是一個叢林茂密的懸崖，馬來語名字的意思是“鐵山”，巨型礦山設備已經清除了這裏的棕櫚樹和其他植物。巨大的挖土機挖開了紫紅色粘土構成的懸崖，從底下掏出亮黑色的鐵礦石。

The mine here operates round the clock, seven days a week. The Chinese-controlled CAA Resources, which reopened the dormant mine early this year, has rapidly ramped up production to an annual rate of 500,000 tons, with plans to double it by next year.

這座鐵礦每週七天、每天24小時地運轉。中資企業CAA資源公司(CAA Resources)今年年初重新啓動了這座“休眠”的鐵礦，迅速提高產量至每年50萬噸，並計劃明年再增加一倍。

Its ambitions, though, are being undermined by the shifting global terrain: Iron ore sells for less and less these days.

不過全球形勢的變化，不利於這個雄心勃勃的計劃：如今鐵礦石的售價正在節節走低。

“China still needs a lot of steel for infrastructure, housing projects and rails,” Li Yang, CAA’s chairman and chief executive, yelled as ore-processing machinery clanked noisily nearby. “The only problem is the pricing.”

“中國的基礎設施、住房和軌道修建仍然需要大量鋼材，”CAA公司董事長兼首席執行官李陽大聲喊道，礦石加工機械在他附近處轟隆作響。“唯一的問題就是價格。”

With seemingly insatiable demand from China, the price of iron ore, along with many other commodities, soared for most of the past decade. China manufactures half the world’s steel, which is made from iron and used for housing construction, rail lines, carmaking and more.

中國的需求似乎永無止境，鐵礦石以及許多其他大宗商品的價格，也在過去近十年的時間裏大幅飆升。中國的鋼產量佔全球的一半；而鋼材由鐵製成，用於房屋建築、鐵路、汽車製造業等。

The boom helped support the rapid growth of companies like CAA, as well as the economies of developing countries rich with resources. From Indonesia and Australia to Peru and Brazil, multinationals and Chinese companies embarked on large-scale, long-term investments in mines.

在這種旺盛需求的推助下，像CAA這樣的公司快速發展起來，資源豐富的發展中國家也實現了快速經濟增長。從印度尼西亞、澳大利亞到祕魯、巴西，跨國公司和中資企業對礦場進行了大規模的長期投資。

But the dynamics have changed — and the current downturn may reflect a new reality. China’s economy, once growing in the double digits, has slowed to around 7 percent, with industrial output dropping even more dramatically. Many commodity companies, though, have ramped up production to meet that earlier pace of demand.

但形勢已經扭轉——目前的經濟低迷可能體現了一個新的現實。中國經濟在經歷兩位數的增長後，已放緩至7%左右，工業產出下降的幅度甚至更大。但是很多大宗商品公司爲了滿足早期的旺盛需求，已經提升了產能。

The result is a double blow to natural resources companies and emerging markets, with few sectors hurt more than iron ore. Prices are down 48 percent since the start of the year, to $70 a metric ton, a five-year low.

因此自然資源公司和新興市場雙雙遭到打擊，受到衝擊最大的當屬鐵礦石行業。開年以來，鐵礦石的價格已經下挫了48%，降至70美元一噸，爲五年新低。

Even in the face of falling prices, producers show no signs of easing off, with low-cost industry giants leading the charge.

即便價格低迷，生產商仍未顯示出生產放緩的跡象，低成本運行的行業大鱷正在帶頭擴產。

Vale of Brazil said in August that it wants to double shipments to China in five years. BHP Billiton of Australia announced plans the same month to invest $2 billion in mine expansion projects. Rio Tinto, a company based in London with extensive operations in Australia, is in the process of bolstering production 13 percent by next year and another 8 percent by 2017.

巴西淡水河谷(Vale)今年8月份表示，它希望在五年內把對華出貨量增加一倍。澳大利亞必和必拓(BHP Billiton)同月也宣佈，將投資20億美元擴建礦山。總部設在倫敦的力拓(Rio Tinto)在澳大利亞開展着大量業務，該公司計劃明年擴產13%，2017年再擴產8%。

Chinese companies, too, have been relentlessly expanding overseas. In Malaysia, the number of iron ore mines in operation has increased more than sevenfold since 2007, mainly from Chinese investment.

中國公司也在不懈地拓展海外市場。自2007年以來，在馬來西亞運營的鐵礦數量增長了逾七倍，投資方主要來自中國。

As iron ore demand has fallen, mines like the one here in Bukit Besi have kept running partly by digging deep into the most iron-rich part of their seams, instead of developing them more evenly, mining the poor-quality ore with the good. That has kept a torrent of iron ore entering the market even as prices have plummeted.

由於鐵礦石的需求有所下降，龍運鐵山等鐵礦保持運轉的方法之一是深入挖掘含鐵量最豐富的部分礦藏，而不是比較均勻地開發它們，劣質礦和優質礦一起挖掘。因此即使價格暴跌，還是有大量鐵礦石進入市場。

“They exacerbate the problem by everyone doing the most profitable part,” said Bruce Diesen, a commodities specialist at Carnegie ASA, an Oslo-based asset management company.

“他們加劇了問題的嚴重性，導致每家公司都做最賺錢的部分，”布魯斯·迪森(Bruce Diesen)表示，他是位於奧斯陸的資產管理公司卡內基ASA(Carnegie ASA)的分析師。

CAA Resources has been at the center of the push here, reopening Malaysia’s most famous mine. Discovered in the jungles of eastern Peninsular Malaysia in 1916 by a Japanese geologist, Bukit Besi became one of the world’s largest mines as it supplied the Japanese steel industry through World War II.

CAA是這種情況的主要推動者，它重新開啓了馬來西亞最著名的礦山。龍運鐵山是一名日本地質學家1916年在馬來西亞半島東部的叢林中發現的，曾經是世界上最大的礦山之一，二戰期間曾爲日本鋼鐵業提供原材料。

The British seized the mine as war spoils after Japan’s surrender and handed it over to a British company. The British mining company initially struggled with Communist insurgency attacks on its rail lines, including bombings that destroyed three train stations, but nonetheless became a big supplier of ore for Japan’s postwar industrial revival.

日本投降後，這座礦山作爲戰利品，移交給了一家英國公司。最初一段時間，礦山的鐵路線遭到共產黨武裝分子的襲擊，3座火車站被炸燬，令英國礦業公司頭痛不已，但該礦仍然成爲了日本戰後工業復興的重要供應商。

Then, in 1971, the mine closed because of what a historic marker here describes as bureaucracy and labor union troubles. The site sat idle for most of the next four decades.

該礦於1971年關閉，當地的一處歷史紀念碑稱，關閉原因是官僚主義和工會問題。過去四十年中，該礦大多數時候都處於閒置狀態。

Learning from the mistakes of his predecessors, Mr. Li, the 27-year-old CAA chief and scion of a Chinese family that had grown wealthy in the mainland iron ore industry, immediately worked to build ties with local and national political leaders, as well as with Malaysian royalty.

CAA的首席執行官李陽現年27歲，出身於富裕的中國鐵礦家族。他從前任經營者的錯誤中吸取教訓，加緊與當地和該國政治領導人，以及馬來西亞皇室培養關係。

“If you’ve got these two to support you, then you can do anything you want, because the natural resources are all controlled by them,” Mr. Li said.

“有了這兩方面的支持，你可以做成任何想做的事情，因爲自然資源都在他們的掌控之中，”李陽說。

Mr. Li, who owns 56 percent of CAA, said that he had paid for each of the ruling party politicians with indirect stakes in the mine to receive the royally granted title of “dato,” which roughly translates as “the honorable.” It costs about $100,000 to arrange each royal grant, he said.

持有CAA公司56%股份的李陽表示，爲了獲得王室授予的頭銜“拿督”(dato)——可大致理解爲“地位尊崇者”——他給執政黨的每位政治人士都提供了鐵礦的間接股份。他說，安排每次王室封銜，都要花費大約10萬美元。

Although anti-corruption groups have campaigned against such arrangements, particularly indirect stakes, Mr. Li said he was simply following common practices in Malaysia. A government-linked industry group in Beijing announced plans on Oct. 24 to introduce standards for Chinese companies in areas like labor rights, environmental protection and community relations.

雖然反腐敗組織對此類做法，尤其是提供間接股份的做法表示反對，但是李陽說，這樣做只是遵循馬來西亞的慣例。10月24日，北京一個與政府有關的行業協會宣佈了一套指導原則，就勞工權益、環境保護和社區關係等問題爲在海外運營的中國公司設定了規範。

To avoid potential labor issues, Mr. Li has largely imported workers, who are not unionized. CAA Resources brought in about 40 mining engineers, accountants and other professionals from China, and filled the rest of its work force with laborers from low-wage countries like Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam. The workers are on 12-hour shifts, up to seven days a week, and are paid based mostly on how much iron ore each shift can produce, Mr. Li said.

爲了避免勞工糾紛，李陽主要從國外招工，而且這些工人並未形成組織。CAA從中國帶來了約40名採礦工程師、會計和其他專業人士，其他工作人員則是來自柬埔寨、緬甸和越南等低收入國家的工人。李陽說，這些工人會進行輪替，每個班次12小時，每週工作7天，他們的工資基本按照每班能開採多少鐵礦石來決定。

Pacing across the jungle mine, Mr. Li described his recruitment pitch to potential hires. “You can save a lot of money, there is nothing to do here,” he said, “I say, ‘Each of you will be a hero, you will take back 100 percent of your savings, your wife will be happier, your children will be happier.' ”

李陽一邊在叢林密佈的礦區漫步，一邊講述了他招人時針對潛在僱員的說辭。“你可以省下很多錢，這裏沒有別的事可做，”他說，“我告訴他們，‘你們每個人都會成爲英雄，你可以把百分之百的積蓄拿回去，你的妻子會更高興，你的孩子也會更幸福。’”

He has avoided filing an environmental-impact statement by erecting an eight-foot-high, blue corrugated-steel fence across the middle of the site with a gate, and calling it two mines, each less than 500 acres. Only mines over 500 acres require environmental approval.

他在礦區中間立起了一道高8英尺（約合2.5米）的藍色瓦楞鋼製圍牆，還給它安了一扇門，然後說這是兩個礦，每個礦的面積都不到500英畝（約合200公頃）。通過這樣做，他成功避免了提交一份環境影響聲明。只有面積超過500英畝的礦才需要環境方面的許可。

Now, CAA’s biggest challenges are from outside forces.

如今，CAA最大的挑戰來自外部力量。

For one, Bukit Besi’s ore is less rich in iron than what rivals produce in Australia or Brazil, although better than most Chinese ore. Less concentrated iron ore needs to go through a costly extra step, known as beneficiation, before it can be sold. That eats into CAA’s profit.

首先，儘管龍運鐵山礦石的含鐵量比大多數中國礦石要高，但它還是比不上競爭對手在澳大利亞或巴西開採的鐵礦。含鐵量較低的鐵礦在出售前，還要經歷一個被稱爲“選礦”的步驟，這個步驟花費很高。CAA的利潤也因此受損。

Transportation, too, is a costly proposition. Australian and Brazilian iron ore mines are connected by rail lines to deepwater ports that can handle some of the world’s largest bulk freighters. That limits their shipping costs to China at around $8 a ton. By contrast, it costs $16 a ton to ship Malaysian iron ore to China because Malaysian ports are shallower — although a deeper port is scheduled to open by the end of next year.

運輸也是一個花費高昂的過程。澳大利亞和巴西的鐵礦由鐵路線和能容納世界上最大的散裝貨船的深水港口連接了起來。所以，從這兩個國家到中國的運輸成本才得以限制在每噸8美元左右。但是，把馬來西亞鐵礦運送到中國，每噸的成本是16美元，因爲馬來西亞的港口較淺——儘管一個較深的港口計劃在明年年底前開放。

But CAA benefits from a home-field advantage of sorts.

但是，所謂的主場優勢可以給CAA帶來好處。

The Chinese steel industry — and the Chinese government, which guides purchasing policies — has been reluctant to rely exclusively on Australia and Brazil, given its past difficulties. In the years before the global financial crisis, such players sharply increased ore export prices.

由於過去曾面臨困境，中國鋼鐵行業——以及引導採購政策的中國政府——不願意完全依賴澳大利亞和巴西。在國際金融危機爆發前，兩國的供應商曾大幅度擡高礦石的出口價格。

“There is a strategic imperative — China does not want to be solely dependent on Australia and Brazil,” said Tim Huxley, chief executive of Wah Kwong Maritime Transport Holdings, a big Hong Kong shipping company active in carrying iron ore to China. “They’ve done that before, and it cost them a lot of money.”

“這裏有個戰略原因——中國不想只去依賴澳大利亞和巴西，”香港大型航運公司華光海運控股有限公司(Wah Kwong Maritime Transport Holdings)的首席執行官蒂莫西·赫胥黎(Timothy Huxley)說，這家公司目前正在積極參與把鐵礦運到中國的過程。“他們曾經就是這樣做的，爲此花了很多錢。”

With migrant workers, CAA’s labor costs are tiny compared with those of mines elsewhere. The company has brought in Chinese mining equipment at less than half the cost of American or Japanese equipment — and has the connections with manufacturers to get broken parts fixed quickly.

因爲使用外來工人，與其他地方的礦區相比，CAA的勞動力成本可謂十分低廉。公司帶來了中國的採礦設備，其成本連美國或日本設備的一半都不到——而且公司還與製造商有聯繫，能夠快速修好損壞部件。

So Mr. Li insists that his company’s Malaysian mines could still cover their costs and show a modest profit shipping ore back to China at prices close to $80 a ton.

所以，李陽堅稱，他的公司在馬來西亞的礦區能夠承擔其開銷，而且還能通過以將近80美元一噸的價格把礦石運回中國，獲取一定利潤。

“We’re still positive by this time,” he said. “The open pit process has low costs.”

“目前，我們仍持樂觀態度，”他說。“露天採礦的成本較低。”