Sherritt International Corporation (“Sherritt” or the “Corporation”) announced an operational update following a countrywide power outage in Cuba that began on Friday, October 18th. Partial restoration of power occurred on Saturday, October 19th with efforts toward the complete restoration of the national grid continuing. At this time, Sherritt does not anticipate any impact to its 2024 guidance.
At Sherritt’s Metals division, the Moa Nickel mine, began operating at a reduced capacity of 50% to 60% with the mine site’s power generating capabilities providing power following the outage. In addition, the mine provided power to regional power stations to assist with restarting in anticipation of connecting and generating power back to the national grid. Operations at the mine are expected to return to full capacity once power from the national grid is restored. Cuba’s national power company expects this to occur in the coming days, with the timing potentially affected by the impacts of Hurricane Oscar which are still to be assessed. Hurricane Oscar, which weakened to a tropical storm, is not anticipated to have any material impact to the mine site beyond the potential for minor delays in timing for power from the national grid to be restored. With the impact of the power outage minimized by the operation’s backup power supply and prudent risk mitigation planning, there is not expected to be a material impact to mixed sulphides production.
Sherritt’s Power division has played a meaningful role in assisting to restore power to the Cuban national grid. Teams at Energas S.A. (“Energas”) worked unceasingly since the power outage occurred, partially or fully restoring operations at all Energas facilities by Saturday, October 19th with some intermittent temporary disruptions occurring since then given the complexities with establishing power to the grid.
Sherritt continues to stand in solidarity with its Cuban partners, collaborating to achieve the complete restoration of power to the Cuban national grid.
