VOA慢速英语：巴西非法黄金涉及大型科技公司

Brazilian police say an Italian metal refiner purchased gold from a trader that mined the metal illegally. The company, police say, purchased the gold from the Amazon rainforest area in the South American country.
巴西警方称，一家意大利金属精炼厂从非法开采黄金的贸易商那里购买了黄金。警方称，该公司从南美国家亚马逊热带雨林地区购买了这些黄金。
 
Public documents show that the refiner, Chimet, has supplied the metal to four of the world's largest technology companies. Tech companies Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Alphabet (the parent company of Google) name Chimet as a source of some gold used in their products.
资料显示，炼金公司Chimet已向四家世界上最大的科技公司供应这种金属。科技公司亚马逊、苹果、微软和 Alphabet(谷歌的母公司)都将Chimet列为其黄金精炼供应者之一。
 
Technology companies often use small amounts of the metal in circuit boards. Circuit boards are used in technology products like computers.
科技公司经常在电路板中使用少量金属。电路板用于计算机等技术产品。
 
The investigative news agency Reporter Brasil secured police documents that were then examined by reporters with Reuters. The documents showed Brazilian federal police have accused Chimet of buying millions of dollars of gold from company CHM do Brasil.
调查性新闻机构巴西记者获得了警方文件，随后记者与路透社一起检查了这些文件。文件显示，巴西联邦警察指控 Chimet 从 CHM do Brasil 公司购买了数百万美元的黄金。
 
CHM do Brasil reportedly sourced the gold from illegal miners. Lawyers representing CHM say the company sourced its gold legally with all necessary documentation.
据报道，CHM do Brasil 从非法矿工那里采购黄金。代表 CHM 的律师表示，该公司通过所有必要的文件合法地采购了黄金。
 
Illegal mining has increased since Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019. Bolsanaro has supported small mining groups called wildcatters and has sought to legalize mining on lands of indigenous, or native, populations.
自巴西总统伊尔·博索纳罗于 2019 年上任以来，非法采矿活动有所增加。博索纳罗一直支持称为 wildcatters 的小型采矿团体，并试图推行在土著或原住民的土地上采矿合法化。
 
Unregulated mines have destroyed rainforest land in the Amazon and have polluted rivers with mercury. Miners have had violent conflicts with indigenous groups seeking to protect their land.
非法矿山破坏了亚马逊雨林的土地，致命的汞污染河流，非法矿工与原住民部落也常发生激烈冲突。
 
Brazilian research group Instituto Escolhas estimated that the country produced 84 metric tons of illegal gold in Bolsonaro's first two years in office. That is up 23 percent from the two years before and is nearly half of Brazil's total gold output.
巴西研究机构 Instituto Escolhas 估计，在博索纳罗上任的头两年，该国生产了84 公吨非法黄金。比两年前增长 23%，几乎占巴西黄金总产量的一半。
 
Larissa Rodrigues is a writer of the Escolhas report. She said, "A company that is buying gold from Brazil already knows there is a huge risk it is buying irregular gold - Amazon blood gold."
Larissa Rodrigues 是 Escolhas 报告的作者。她说，“一家从巴西购买黄金的公司已经知道，它购买的是不规则黄金——亚马逊血金——存在巨大风险。”
 
A Chimet representative said the company cut off relations with CHM after learning of the reports of illegal gold trade in October 2021.
Chimet 的一位代表表示，该公司在 2021 年 10 月得知非法黄金交易的报道后，切断了与 CHM 的关系。
 
A police document from August 2021 stated that Chimet reportedly bought $385 million worth of gold from CHM between 2015 and 2020.
2021 年 8 月的一份警方文件称，据报道 Chimet 在 2015 年至 2020 年期间从 CHM 购买了价值 3.85 亿美元的黄金。
 
A police investigation is ongoing into the possible CHM crimes.
警方正在对可能的 CHM 犯罪进行调查。
 
The four American tech companies listed Chimet among more than 100 gold refiners in their supply chains during the investigation's five-year time period. They also listed Chimet in their most recent 2021 documents.
在调查的五年期间，四家美国科技公司将 Chimet 列为其供应链中的 100 多家黄金精炼商之一。在最近的 2021 年文件中也有Chimet。
 
Giovanni Prelazzi is a company representative for Chimet. He said Chimet does not have direct relationships with the four tech companies. Instead, Prelazzi said, it sells gold to banks that can resell it for different uses. He did not name the banks.
Giovanni Prelazzi 是 Chimet 的公司代表。他说 Chimet 与这四家科技公司没有直接关系。相反，Prelazzi 说，它向银行出售黄金，银行可以将其转售用于不同用途。但他没有说出银行的名字。
 
Apple has said that its policies ban the use of illegally mined minerals. The iPhone maker said companies that cannot follow such requirements are removed from its supply chain.
苹果曾表示，禁止使用非法开采的矿物。这家 iPhone 制造商表示，无法遵守此类要求的公司将从其供应链中移除。
 
Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft did not comment.
亚马逊、Alphabet 和微软没有发表评论。
 
Chimet said it began working with the company Deloitte to look into its other suppliers after learning of the CHM investigation in Brazil. In April 2020, Chimet was again approved by London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) as meeting gold sourcing standards.
Chimet表示，在得知巴西的CHM调查后，它开始与德勤公司合作调查其其他供应商。2020 年 4 月，Chimet 再次获得伦敦金银市场协​​会 (LBMA) 的批准，符合黄金采购标准。
 
I'm Gregory Stachel.
格雷戈里·斯塔切尔报道。