Madrid/Almost half of the Canadian workforce of the mining company Sherritt International will be laid off in the next three months as a result of the suspension of operations in Cuba. as announced by the company itself. The number of people affected amounts to 280, 47% of the company’s total workers.
The Fort Saskatchewan refinery, in Alberta, had to stop its operations in June, when it ran out of nickel and cobalt from the Island as a result, also, of the cessation of activities in the Cuban mines. That decision It was announced on May 7as a consequence of the entry into force of the executive order signed by the president of the United States, Donald Trump, just three days before and which warned of sanctions on any entity and person that did business with the Cuban regime.
“Sherritt has not been formally designated under the executive order. However, such a designation could occur at any time. In any case, its mere issuance creates conditions that materially alter the Corporation’s ability to operate in the ordinary course, including activities related to the operations of the Cuban joint venture,” he said then in a statement. The decision led to two other measures: the resignation of the entire board of directors and the return to the Island of the Cuban employees at the Canadian plant.
The decision led to two other measures: the resignation of the entire board of directors and the return to the Island of the Cuban employees at the Canadian plant.
The mining company has been working for months, since then, to find a way out of the situation, which has seriously compromised its accounts, in addition to revealing an “unusual vulnerability in the supply chain and critical minerals in North America,” it says. Bloomberg. Alberta’s is, according to the company, the only significant cobalt refinery in the region and one of three nickel refineries, but it depends on supply from Cuba. Cobalt is used in the technology industry, alloy manufacturing, medicine and biology.
This Wednesday, the company’s interim president and CEO, Peter Hancock, said that Sherritt remains focused on restoring operations, which depend on approvals from the US government.
On October 19, it was announced that the Treasury Department had granted a specific license to buy and deliver fuel, fuel oil and sulfur to the Moa Nickel plant in Holguín, which the Canadian company shares with the Cuban State. This was the first of a series of emergency licenses from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac) that the company is processing together with the American Gillon Capital to recover the business, both in extraction and processing, which depend on the Island, and in refining in Alberta.
Everything indicates that Gillon Capital – linked to Ray Washburne, a former Trump Administration official – will retain control of the mining company. In May it emerged that the American had signed a preliminary offer non-binding to acquire 55% of the shares of the Canadian company. In August it became known that there was another proposal on the table, that of a consortium led by the Swiss giant Glencore, with an American “anchor” investor, the oil businessman Albert Huddleston.
However, from the October statement reporting the granting of the license, it is clear that Gillon Capital has prevailed, since both asked the US Treasury to study a broader operation, in which an investment fund based in that country will acquire a majority stake. According to Sherritt, this license is the first of those Gillon would need to complete the purchase.
The authorization that Ofac has issued to Sherritt covers the sale, transportation, export, delivery and payment of fuel, and includes the supplier, banks, ship operators and insurers involved.
The authorization that Ofac has issued to Sherritt covers the sale, transportation, export, delivery and payment of fuel, and includes the supplier, banks, ship operators and insurers involved. The company expects the first shipment to sail this same quarter of the year and indicates that it is already “in the process of finalizing the initial shipment of fuel.”
For its part, the Cuban Government would have given the green light to these operations, which imply the entry of US capital into the Island. according to a source knowledgeable about negotiations Miami Herald. The Cuban Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, partially confirmed the information last month, in an interview. to Reutersin which he said that he sees no problem with an operation of this type
“We have always made it clear that what the American company would buy are shares of Sherritt, not the joint company. The Canadian company is listed on the stock exchange and any investor has the right to buy its shares,” he argued.
“But any restart would require discussions about how to supply fuel and spare parts, and also how to handle payments for exports and production inputs,” he said, referring to sanctions from Washington. “If the intention is to resume nickel production, all those problems would need to be resolved.”
