Sherritt furloughs 47% of Canada workforce amid Cuba sanctions

Sherritt International Corp. will temporarily lay off almost half its Canadian workforce as the nickel and cobalt producer grapples with the fallout from expanded US sanctions on Cuba.

The company will lay off about 280 employees, or 47% of its Canadian workforce, for an expected 90 days, Sherritt said in a statement Wednesday. Its Fort Saskatchewan refinery in Alberta stopped refining metals in June after running out of feed inventory.

Sherritt suspended direct participation in its Cuban joint venture in May after the US expanded sanctions against companies doing business on the island. The company said it has been operating under constrained liquidity conditions since then and is working through regulatory, operational and financial requirements to restart mining and processing in Cuba and refining in Canada.

The predicament highlights an unusual vulnerability in North America’s critical-minerals supply chain. Sherritt’s Alberta refinery — which the company says is the region’s only significant cobalt refinery and one of just three nickel refineries — depends on feed from Cuba. 

Restarting the integrated operation hinges partly on securing US government approvals.

Sherritt received the first of a series of emergency licenses from the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Oct. 19. The authorization allows fuel and sulfur to be supplied to its Cuban nickel operations, though additional approvals are needed before mining and processing can resume. 

The company’s Interim President and Chief Executive Officer Peter Hancock said Sherritt remains focused on restoring operations.

(By James Attwood)