VOA新闻杂志2024 泰国意图生产锂产品（在线收听）

Thailand Aims for Lithium Production

泰国意图生产锂产品

Thailand hopes to start producing lithium from a mine in its southwest in about two years, government and business officials say.

泰国政府和企业官员表示，泰国希望在大约两年内开始从西南部的一个矿场生产出锂。

The mine could help the country become a center for electric vehicle (EV) production.

该矿可以帮助该国成为电动汽车生产中心。

Lithium is a metal critical to EV battery production.

锂是生产电动汽车电池的关键金属。

Establishing lithium mines would put Thailand in a special position among major producers of the metal because the country is also developing an EV production industry. Chinese carmakers already promised to invest $1.44 billion in that industry in Thailand.

建立锂矿将使泰国在该金属的主要生产国中处于特殊地位，因为该国也在发展电动汽车生产行业。中国汽车制造商已经承诺在泰国向该行业投资14.4亿美元。

The Australian company Miner Pan Asia Metals is preparing to register for mining permits in March for the Reung Kiet project. The project is taking place in the country's Phang-Nga area. The property could also include the proposed Bang I Tum mine.

澳大利亚公司泛亚金属正准备在3月份为良杰项目注册采矿许可证。该项目正在泰国攀牙府进行。该项目还可能包括拟建的Bang I Tum矿场。

Pan Asia's leader Paul Lock told Reuters that the company is "optimistic" about starting lithium chemical production from Reung Kiet by early 2026.

泛亚金属董事长保罗 · 洛克对路透社表示，该公司对2026年初开始从良杰项目生产锂化工产品持“乐观”态度。

Thailand's Department of Primary Industries and Mines (DPIM) predicts that the Reung Kiet site could produce about 164,500 tonnes of the metal.

泰国初级工业和矿业部预测，良杰矿场可能生产约16.45万吨锂。

That would be enough to produce at least 1 million EV batteries of 50 kilowatt-hours, said DPIM Director General Aditad Vasinonta.

泰国基础工业和矿业部部长阿迪塔德·瓦西农塔表示，这将足以生产至少100万个容量为50千瓦时的电动汽车电池。

The official said mining could begin there in about two years.

这位官员说大约两年后那里就可以开始采矿了。

And, Pan Asia's Paul Lock says the mineral resources at Bang I Tum may be 10 to 70 percent larger than Reung Kiet.

泛亚金属的保罗 · 洛克表示，Bang I Tum矿场的矿产资源可能比良杰矿场高出10%到70%。

Experts do not know how much reachable lithium exists in Thailand. Major suppliers of the metal include Australia, Argentina, Chile, and China.

专家们不知道泰国有多少可开采的锂。该金属的主要供应商包括澳大利亚、阿根廷、智利和中国。

Center of production

生产中心

Thailand is Southeast Asia's largest automobile producer and exporter. It wants EVs to account for 30 percent of its yearly automobile production by 2030.

泰国是东南亚最大的汽车生产国和出口国。它希望到2030年，电动汽车占其汽车年产量的30%。

Narit Therdsteerasukdi is Secretary General of the Thailand Board of Investment. He said the government has supported 38 battery production projects, including those for EV use, with total investment at $659.4 million.

纳立·特萨提拉沙是泰国投资委员会秘书长。他表示，政府已支持38个包括电动汽车用途的电池生产项目，总投资为6.594亿美元。

"Our goal is to push Thailand to become the regional hub for battery production, both for EV and for energy storage," he said.

他说：“我们的目标是推动泰国成为电动汽车和储能电池生产的区域中心。”

A regional hub is an important center of activity for a part of the world.

区域中心是全球部分地区的重要活动中心。

The Thai government is also pushing for lithium exploration in new areas. That includes changing laws to permit private companies to study agricultural lands, Aditad said.

泰国政府也在推动在新的地区进行锂勘探。阿迪塔德说，这包括修改法律，允许私营公司调查农业用地。

One of the interested companies is Matsa Resources, an Australian miner looking for lithium in Thailand.

澳大利亚矿业公司麦莎资源就是其中一家感兴趣的公司，该公司正在泰国寻找锂。

Matsa holds two special permits to look for lithium in Thailand. And it has over 100 requests waiting, it said in January.

麦莎资源持有两张在泰国寻找锂的特别许可证。该公司在1月份表示，目前有100多个申请在等待处理。

"They will be only one of a handful of countries that have got the whole supply chain from mining to production within the same country," said Paul Poli, Matsa's leader.

麦莎资源董事长保罗·波利表示：“泰国将是少数几个在国内拥有从采矿到生产的整个供应链的国家之一。”

The lithium under exploration in Thailand is found within a mineral known as lepidolite. It is more costly to process than the kind of lithium mined in Australia and Chile.

泰国正在勘探的锂是在一种被称为锂云母的矿物中发现的。它的加工成本比澳大利亚和智利开采的锂更高。

Matsa and Pan Asia said they are in discussions with Chinese companies to process the lepidolite mineral. Chinese companies have experience producing lithium from lepidolite in Jiangxi province.

麦莎资源和泛亚金属表示，他们正在与中国公司商讨加工锂云母矿。中国企业在江西省拥有利用锂云母生产锂的经验。