Sherritt Provides an Update on its Operations
Fuel Supply Crisis in Cuba Paralyzes Moa Joint Venture, Threatening 2026 Recovery and Forcing Emergency Liquidity Search
On February 17, 2026, Sherritt announced a significant reduction in operations at its flagship Moa Joint Venture in Cuba due to severe fuel supply constraints. Key operational impacts include: - Mining operations are being paused immediately. - The processing plant will be placed on standby within the next week. - Interrupted fuel deliveries have an "unknown timeline" for resumption. - The Fort Saskatchewan refinery in Alberta is operating on existing feed inventory, which is expected to be exhausted by mid-April 2026. - The company has suspended its recently issued 2026 guidance. - Management is actively exploring "temporary funding" and expenditure management to preserve liquidity.
This news is highly material and severely negative. It effectively nullifies the turnaround plan presented just one week prior (February 10, 2026) during the FY 2025 results release. - Financial Solvency: The search for "temporary funding" indicates that the existing cash position ($124.9 million as of Dec 31, 2025, but with only $43.7 million available in Canada) may be insufficient to cover corporate obligations and maintenance costs during a prolonged shutdown. - Production Loss: With mining paused and the processing plant on standby, Sherritt loses its primary revenue stream. The mid-April deadline for the Fort Saskatchewan refinery creates a hard ceiling on cash generation unless fuel resumes. - Operational Momentum: This follows a multi-year period of underperformance, guidance cuts (July and November 2025), and a leadership transition. The inability to secure basic inputs like fuel in Cuba highlights the extreme sovereign risk that now overrides technical or operational improvements.
Sherritt is a world leader in hydrometallurgical processes for nickel and cobalt. Its flagship asset is the Moa Joint Venture (50% ownership) in Cuba, a vertically integrated operation that mines lateritic ore and processes it into mixed sulphides. These are then shipped to the 100%-owned Fort Saskatchewan refinery in Canada. The company also holds a 33.3% interest in Energas S.A., a Cuban power generation entity.