In its report corresponding to the second quarter of 2025, the company warns of limited access to foreign exchange by the Cuban government.
Miami, United States. – The Canadian Minera Sherritt International Corporation once again expressed concern about the persistent financial and operational difficulties faced in Cuba, despite the progress of the second expansion phase of its joint business in Moa.
In its financial report corresponding to the second quarter of 2025the company warns about payments in payments, limited access to foreign exchange by the Cuban government and structural risks that affect the sustainability of its operations on the island.
As detailed by the document, between April and June of this year Sherritt only recovered 6 million dollars of the 14 million invoiced to his Cuban partner. This situation raised the accumulated debt in favor of the company to 344.1 million dollars at the close of the quarter, compared to the 368.4 million registered in December 2024.
“The company continues to face restrictions on access to foreign exchange by the Cuban government, which has limited the payments of its accounts receivable,” says the report. In addition, he warns that, despite having established a payment plan with the island’s authorities, “the recovery rhythm continues to be uncertain.”
Sherritt explains that cash payments from Cuba are used as soon as possible to cover immediate operational commitments, such as “plant maintenance, purchase of supplies and local debt service”, while transfers to cover dividends and loans charged to their foreign partners have been lagging behind. The company recalls that its ability to repatriate funds from Cuba “is subject to the availability of foreign exchange in the country and government decisions.”
To this is added operational fragility. During the quarter, the production attributable to Sherritt was only 1,700 tons of nickel and 200 tons of cobalt, a fall compared to the same period of 2024. The company attributes the decline to “programmed maintenance stops and operating bottlenecks”, including the installation of new systems as part of its expansion program, whose delays have affected the performance.
Although the company indicates a reduction in the unit costs of production at the MOA plant – from 7.21 to $ 5.38 per pound of nickel – or hides its concern about the volatility of the Cuban context. In his own words: “Any operational improvement is conditioned to the stability of the country’s economic conditions and the state partner’s ability to comply with financing and foreign exchange commitments.”
In that sense, Sherritt admits that local inflation, the devaluation of the Cuban weight and logistics challenges represent constant threats to the continuity of the project. Despite its alliance with the Cuban state general Nickel Company, Sherritt makes it clear that the economic risks of the environment are out of control and directly affect the planning and execution of their operations.
Another critical point of the report is that the debt pending payments to the company from Cuba “does not generate interest and is not guaranteed by specific assets”, which represents an important financial risk. Although the company has continued to receive partial payments, it states that it cannot guarantee when, or even, it will recover all the owed.
As for the second phase of the MOA expansion – which includes a ammonium sulfate plant and acid recovery systems – Sherritt announced that the start has begun, but it has not yet reached commercial production, something that it hopes to achieve in the third quarter of the year. However, it warns that any additional delay could affect the planned annual volumes, which would sharpen the tension with its partners and creditors.
Despite these warnings, the company maintains, for the moment, its production guide between 6,800 and 7,200 tons of nickel and between 800 and 900 tons of cobalt by 2025. However, the tone of the report is clear: the continuity and profitability of its operations in Cuba depend on factors that escape the business control and that are directly related to the deep economic crisis of the country.
