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Sherritt temporarily lays off 280 workers in Canada over the halt in Cuban nickel
The Canadian miner, the Cuban state's partner at Moa, is standing down 47% of its Canadian workforce for about 90 days after its Alberta refinery ran out of nickel and cobalt from the island.
Sherritt International announced on November 4 the temporary layoff of about 280 employees, 47% of its Canadian workforce, for roughly 90 days, a step it says is meant to preserve liquidity while it works to restart its metals refinery in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta. The company says workers may be recalled sooner if conditions allow refining to resume.
The refinery halted operations in June, when it ran out of the nickel and cobalt feed coming from Moa, in Holguín, the joint venture the Canadian company shares with the Cuban state. During the layoff period it will keep producing and selling ammonia fertiliser and sulphuric acid, along with necessary maintenance and environmental protection and safety work.
According to 14ymedio, the suspension of its activities in Cuba was announced on May 7, three days after the entry into force of President Donald Trump's executive order warning of sanctions on any entity or person doing business with the Cuban government. The company said at the time that it had not been formally designated under the order, but that its mere issuance "creates conditions that materially alter the Corporation's ability to operate in the ordinary course". The decision came with the resignation of the entire board and the return to the island of the Cuban employees at the Canadian plant.
On October 19 the company said the US Treasury Department had granted it a specific licence to buy and deliver fuel, fuel oil and sulphur to the Moa Nickel plant, the first in a series of emergency licences it is seeking together with US firm Gillon Capital. The authorisation covers the sale, transport, export and payment of the fuel, and extends to the supplier, the banks, the ship operators and the insurers; the company expects the first cargo to sail this quarter.
Gillon Capital, linked to former Trump administration official Ray Washburne, signed a non-binding preliminary offer in May to acquire 55% of the Canadian company's shares. Cuba's minister of energy and mines, Vicente de la O Levy, told Reuters he sees no obstacle to such a deal: "What the US company would be buying are Sherritt shares, not shares in the joint venture," he said, in remarks translated by Yamacoa.
Sources: 14ymedio · BNN Bloomberg
Data updated: 2026-11-05T16:15:00.000Z