Mining bosses have warned against plunging into the M&A market and repeating mistakes of the past as forecasts mount that the industry is on the verge of a dealmaking boom.
矿业老板们警告称，不要贸然进入并购市场，避免重蹈过去的覆辙。越来越多的预测显示，该行业即将迎来并购热潮。
Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm was the most outspoken as he hinted at the experience of his predecessor Tom Albanese, who was ousted from the top job in 2013 after an ill-fated acquisition.
力拓(Rio Tinto)首席执行官石道成(Jakob Stausholm)在暗示其前任艾博年(Tom Albanese)的经历时非常直言不讳。2013年，艾博年在一次失败的收购后被免职。
Albanese was blamed for Rio’s $38bn deal for Canadian aluminium rival Alcan in 2007 that contributed to $30bn in writedowns following the metal’s tumble on the markets.
艾博年因为2007年力拓斥资380亿美元收购加拿大铝业竞争对手Alcan的交易而受到指责。铝价暴跌后，这笔交易导致力拓减记300亿美元。
“A lot of deals were made between 2005 and 2012 and a lot of these turned out to be really bad,” Stausholm told the Financial Times.
“2005年至2012年间达成了很多交易，其中很多最终都非常糟糕，”石道成对英国《金融时报》表示。
“Now it feels like things are opening up a little bit . . . but from the Rio Tinto perspective, that’s not that relevant: I have no Fomo or fear of missing out.”
“现在感觉情况有点开放了……但从力拓的角度来看，这并不重要：我没有错失恐惧症(Fomo)。”
Mark Bristow, the pugnacious South African chief executive of Barrick Gold, agreed, saying it can “happen fairly easily” that the industry overstretches itself again by paying too much for assets.
巴里克黄金(Barrick Gold)好战的南非首席执行官马克•布里斯托(Mark Bristow)对此表示赞同，他说，该行业“相当容易”由于为收购资产付出过高代价而再次过度扩张。
The debate over whether M&A is about to surge follows the boosting of balance sheets by the big groups in the past decade in an effort to restore returns in the wake of the 2015 commodity crash, potentially creating the firepower for deals.
在围绕并购活动是否即将激增展开辩论之前，大型集团在过去10年里一直在改善资产负债表，以求在2015年大宗商品崩盘后恢复回报，这可能为并购交易创造火力。
The expected driver is a desire to snap up supplies of metals critical for clean energy, say investment bankers. Miners think these will be in short supply in the future, forcing up prices as demand outstrips supply.
投资银行家们表示，预期的驱动力是抢购对清洁能源至关重要的金属供应。矿商认为，未来这些金属将供不应求，从而迫使价格上涨。
In this scenario, copper is forecast to be the most hotly pursued commodity as it is used in vast quantities in renewables, power grids and electric cars and will therefore be vital in the move to net zero.
在这种情况下，预计铜将成为最受追捧的大宗商品，因为它被大量用于可再生能源、电网和电动汽车，因此对实现净零排放至关重要。