Sherritt International Corporation (Sherritt) reported its financial results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021, and announced it is embarking on an expansion strategy with its Cuban partners to capitalize on the growing demand for high purity nickel and cobalt being driven by the accelerated adoption of electric vehicles. The strategy centres on growing finished nickel and cobalt production by 15 to 20% per year from the 34,876 tonnes produced in 2020 and extending the life of mine at Moa beyond 2040 through the conversion of mineral resources into reserves using an economic cut-off grade.
Expansion plans for the Moa JV consist of a multi-phased approach, and includes completion of the new slurry preparation plant and other expansion circuits at Moa, installation of new equipment and upgrading existing equipment at the refinery in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, updating the 43-101 Technical Report published in June 2019 that reported more than 158 million tonnes of measured and indicated resources at 1% nickel and 0.13% cobalt at Moa to reflect production based on economic rather than a fixed, cut-off grade, and leveraging the expertise of Sherritt Technologies to optimize mine planning and performance.
Sherritt expects to provide an update on the rollout of the Moa JV expansion strategy by the end of Q1 2022.
