It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
The Trump administration’s hard line against Cuba pushed Sherritt International Corp. to the brink. Now, an ex-adviser to the US president may be the Canadian mining company’s salvation.
The nearly 99-year-old company, whose former chief executive was once known as Fidel Castro’s favorite capitalist, has staked its business on a bet few Western companies would touch. After entering Cuba in the 1990s, Sherritt developed a nickel-and-cobalt mine through a joint venture with the state before expanding into energy. The result was a sprawling business that’s survived commodity busts, US political pressure and economic instability on the island.
That wager abruptly unraveled this month, plunging Sherritt into turmoil. After President Donald Trump expanded sanctions on the communist country, Sherritt initially announced plans to dissolve its mining venture in Cuba. On Wednesday the US charged former Cuban President Raúl Castro with murder, sharply escalating a standoff with Havana as the Trump administration attempts to reshape the island’s political order.
But just days after Sherritt announced its retreat from Cuba, a potential rescuer emerged in the form of a Dallas family office linked to Ray Washburne, a real estate executive appointed by Trump in 2017 to lead the Overseas Private Investment Corp. Washburne’s Gillon Capital LLC signed a non-binding preliminary agreement on Wednesday that would hand the family office a controlling stake in Sherritt.
“It came out of nowhere,” Peter Hancock, Sherritt’s interim chief executive officer, said in an interview. “I would like to tell you that I’m a business genius and that I knew an American entity would see that it could create value in the situation that Sherritt was in. But no, I didn’t foresee that.”
As Trump’s foreign policy during his second term turns markedly more aggressive, Sherritt is still at risk of losing its Havana gamble. The saga underscores the dangers facing companies and investors from shifting geopolitics amid a rapidly changing world order. While major multinational firms have not been immune to conflict-driven losses, the threat is particularly acute for companies with assets concentrated in a single country outside of the US.
It’s not clear whether Sherritt’s preliminary pact with Gillon signals a potential shift in Trump’s Cuba strategy. On Wednesday, he played down the need to further ratchet up pressure on the Cuban government after the charges against Raúl Castro. Representatives for Gillon and the State Department didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
But for Hancock, the sudden backing from Gillon helped “bridge the huge gap” between Sherritt and the administration.
“This deal happened because an actor in the United States was able to make a case to the US State Department,” he said. “We were collateral damage in a larger policy objective for the United States.”
Sherritt was founded in 1927 and named after Carl Sherritt, a trapper who staked copper prospects in Manitoba. The company’s first foray into Cuba was steered by Ian Delaney, who became CEO after a proxy fight in 1990 and secured a deal with the Castro government one year later. The state agreed to sell Sherritt unprocessed nickel from Moa, a mine in eastern Cuba that was nationalized after the country’s 1959 revolution.
It was a milestone deal for the Canadian firm, which needed raw material to feed its key asset: a refinery in Alberta. The company entered into a joint venture agreement in 1994 with the state to operate Moa, which produces cobalt and nickel, both key metals for the energy transition and providing power to data centers.
For years, Sherritt was enormously successful in Cuba. Its market capitalization jumped to almost C$5 billion ($3.6 billion) in 2008, while the stock traded as high as C$18. Sherritt, by that time, had poured significant investment into the country, including stakes in electricity, oil and natural gas ventures alongside state companies.
Sherritt executives became the first people barred from entering the US under the Helms-Burton Act, a law passed in 1996 to target firms doing business in Cuba. But Canada and several European nations opposed the law and maintained diplomatic ties with Havana, allowing Sherritt to keep selling most of its nickel and cobalt into those markets as well as Asia.
Yet at the height of Sherritt’s rise following its success in Cuba, the company made costly bet on a nickel project in Madagascar. The decision would ultimately shred its balance sheet, driving debt to almost C$2.5 billion at its peak in 2013. Then came a prolonged slump in nickel prices, leaving the company periodically teetering on the brink of insolvency.
Saddled with a heavy debt load and years of weak cash flow, the company became even more reliant on Cuba, exiting other assets including its Canadian coal business to fund loan repayments and eventually writing off its Madagascar venture. Today, Cuba accounts more than 70% of the company’s asset base on a book value basis.
“They had an ample opportunity to eliminate their indebtedness entirely,” Jeffrey Gavarkovs, a managing partner at Northstream Capital Inc., said in an interview. But “the combination of Cuba and a debt load that was a little bit too heavy was their poison pill.”
While Sherritt continued receiving distributions from its power and nickel operations, the company spent more than C$100 million on an offshore well, a higher-risk category of oil exploration, Gavarkovs said. The effort yielded a well that was ultimately written off as uneconomic.
But according to Gavarkovs, who owns Sherritt bonds, the company’s biggest flaw was its bloated corporate overhead for what had effectively become a single-asset mining company. Directors on the board, rather than ensuring that unsecured note-holders received cash interest payments as required by the debt covenants, prioritized vesting cash-settled stock options, he said.
The company also spent millions trying to fend off several activist campaigns against it, he added. Last year investment firm Pala Assets Holdings won its battle against Sherritt, resulting in the resignation of CEO Leon Binedell and a shakeup of the board.
When US forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January, investors began speculating that Cuba could be the Trump administration’s next target. In Venezuela’s case, US oil majors and Western mining companies swarmed into the country after Maduro’s arrest, with Chevron Corp. emerging as one of the clearest winners.
But unlike Chevron, which has a diversified asset base, Sherritt was facing a worsening a fuel shortage as the US blocked Venezuelan exports to Cuba. The company announced plans to pause mining at Moa in February after receiving notice that planned fuel deliveries could not be fulfilled.
As Cuba’s economy continued to crumble, with mass blackouts sweeping the island as Trump tightened his squeeze on the nation of 10 million people, Sherritt faced a choice: keep operations going at a loss and at reduced capacity, or mothball the company’s most valuable asset. In late March, the company announced it was seeking an emergency cash injection of as much as C$50 million to support Moa.
Hancock was at home in Halifax on Monday, a public holiday in Canada, watching the Giro d’Italia cycling race on TV when the phone rang. On the other end was Washburne, calling with his offer for Sherritt.
Two days later, the Canadian company announced that it had signed a non-binding term sheet with Gillon. Sherritt said the US State Department had no objections to the discussions.
It’s far from certain that Ottawa will support a US investor taking majority ownership of Sherritt, however. Canada instituted a new policy in 2024 to make it more difficult for foreign companies to take control of Canadian critical minerals assets.
To Ben Rowswell, a former Canadian ambassador to Venezuela, the move by a Trump-friendly investor to take control of Sherritt in Cuba exemplifies what’s become known as the Donroe Doctrine, the US president’s take on Washington’s 19th-century push for hemispheric domination.
The latest move provides “further insight into the changing character of the US relationship with the region as it’s turning into an extractive predator” that uses its power over all countries, said Rowswell, now a consultant with strategic advisory firm Catalyze4.
The government of Prime Minister Mark Carney might be reluctant to attempt to block the takeover of Sherritt by a US investor to avoid complicating efforts to renew a free trade agreement with the US, Rowswell said, adding that he believes Carney’s administration should defend the company against US sanctions.
A spokesperson for Canada’s industry department said the government welcomes foreign investment that benefits Canada’s economy, but declined to comment on specific transactions.
Sherritt isn’t the only foreign company with mining operations in Cuba: Singapore-based commodities trading giant Trafigura has a lead-and-zinc mine there in a joint venture with the state. The company has said that it complies with all applicable sanctions and maintains a regular dialogue with relevant authorities.
Despite the potential deal with Gillon, Sherritt’s situation remains tenuous. Three board members have resigned from Sherritt, leaving just Hancock and one other director. Its chief financial officer and its auditor also departed earlier this month. The company now trades as a penny stock, with a market capitalization near C$80 million. Without essential nickel and cobalt supplies from Cuba, the available inventory at the company’s Alberta refinery will run out in mid-June, it said earlier this month.
“A lot of things will need to happen to get to the state where the full value is realized,” said Hancock, adding that sourcing key inputs such as fuel and sulfur would also be critical to unlocking Sherritt’s full potential. But, he added, “the posture of the US government with respect to this deal opens up a much wider world of financing.”
The Fort Saskatchewan refinery is one of just a few nickel processing facilities in North America. As governments and manufacturers race to build critical minerals supply chains outside of China, the facility carries growing strategic importance, according to Northstream’s Gavarkovs.
For Hancock, a former engineer with commodities trader Glencore Plc, there have been “a lot of very unexpected twists and turns” since he stepped in as interim CEO of Sherritt in December. If the Gillon proposal goes ahead, any easing of tensions between the Trump administration and Cuba would likely improve the payoff for the Washburne family office, he added.
Gillon is “very, very familiar with the business and the value that they see down the track,” he said. “This deal signals that they believe Sherritt has got a real bright future when things normalize in Cuba.”
(By Sybilla Gross, Paula Sambo and Stephen Wicary)
Sherritt in talks to hand control of Cuba mining business to ex-Trump adviser
US new sanctions revive a decades-old clash with Sherritt, rooted in the 1990s. (Image courtesy of Sherritt International.)
Sherritt International Corp. is in talks to hand a controlling stake to a family office linked to a former adviser of President Donald Trump, as the mining company seeks to navigate US sanctions tied to its Cuba operations.
The Toronto-based company said it signed a non-binding term sheet for a private placement involving a warrant, which would allow Gillon Capital LLC to acquire enough common shares to own 55% of the company on a fully exercised basis, according to a statement Wednesday.
Sherritt expects that the exercise price will be at a discount to the company’s closing price May 15. The company, which operates nickel and cobalt mining and refining businesses tied closely to Cuban state partners, on Tuesday reversed course on plans to unwind its operations in the Caribbean country.
Shares of Sherritt, which trades as a penny stock, rose 9% in early trading in New York.
Gillon Capital is the family office of Ray Washburne, a real estate executive whom Trump appointed in 2017 to head the Overseas Private Investment Corporation before later naming him to the Presidential Intelligence Advisory Board.
Sherritt said it has “engaged constructively” with the US Department of State, which confirmed no objections to Gillon Capital’s engagement with the company, according to Wednesday’s statement. The Department of State and Department of Treasury don’t view the negotiations as contrary to US law, the statement said.
Last week, Sherritt said it was considering steps to relinquish its 50% stake in a Cuban nickel-and-cobalt mine, as well as surrender its interest in an energy joint venture with the state. On Tuesday, it backtracked on that decision and flagged it was evaluating a “potential value preserving opportunity.”
Sherritt operates nickel and cobalt mining and refining businesses tied closely to Cuban state partners and has long depended on the country for a significant portion of its production.
The company has been in turmoil since Trump signed an executive order earlier this month targeting non-US individuals and entities doing business in Cuba, which has faced sweeping US sanctions since the 1960s. The upheaval triggered a wave of departures, including three board members and the chief financial officer, and triggered a plunge in its share price.
Sherritt International (TSX: S) has dropped plans to dissolve its mining assets in Cuba, though operations will remain suspended amid ongoing US sanctions.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Canadian miner said it will now keep its Cuban interests, namely the Moa nickel mining venture, and will not proceed with its application to the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta to disclaim the asset.
The decision was made following further “consultation with advisors, stakeholders and relevant governmental authorities,” and “in light of additional information” currently available to the company, it said.
The announcement comes just days after Sherritt said it would be dissolving the 50/50 Moa joint venture with the state-owned General Nickel Company, citing a “material change” from the JV shareholders’ agreement. It followed a recent executive order by US President Donald Trump that expanded sanctions on Cuba to include non-American entities, including Sherritt.
The extended US sanctions triggered a wave of departures within the company, including three board members, the chief financial officer, and led to a more than 50% drop in its share price.
Before that, the Toronto-based miner had already been struggling due to its heavy exposure to the Cuban market. Sherritt has been mining cobalt and nickel in the island nation since 1990. It also produces electricity, oil and gas through a stake in Energas SA, another joint venture with Cuba’s state electric and petroleum companies.
Sherritt International shares rebounded slightly off an all-time low of C$0.11 on the news. Its market capitalization is approximately C$81 million ($59 million), following a decline that extends to nearly two decades.
While the company is not longer seeking a dissolution of the Cuban assets, its participation in the Moa venture will remain suspended, Sherritt said on Tuesday, adding that it will “continue to work with stakeholders and advisors on steps to address the executive order as soon as practicable.”
The company also said it has been presented, on a preliminary basis, with “a potential value preserving opportunity”, which it will evaluate.
US Supreme Court Rules Cruise Lines Can Be Sued Under Cuban Libertad Act
There are other cases under the Libertade Act also pending in the U.S. courts based on Trump’s 2019 decision not to extend the suspension of the act. Presidents before Trump had suspended the enforcement of the act.Cruises docked at the piers in Havana between 2016 and 2019 working under U.S. licenses (GPH photo)
The United States Supreme Court handed down its ruling saying four cruise lines could be sued for their use of the pier in Havana, Cuba, under the Libertad Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1996. The case has been seen as a potential watershed in the long-running fight for compensation for assets seized during the 1959 Cuban revolution and other events around the globe.
At issue was the cruise lines' use of the docks in Havana between 2016, when the United States lifted many of its restrictions on Cuba under President Barack Obama, and June 2019, when Donald Trump reinstated the restrictions and let a presidential waiver over enforcement of the Libertad Act lapse. The Havana Dock Company, which built and operated the docks under a 99-year concession before the Cuban revolution, sued Carnival Corporation, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, MSC Cruises, and Royal Caribbean Group, contending they profited from the use of confiscated property.
The case alleges the cruise lines carried nearly one million passengers to Cuba between 2016 and 2019 using the piers that were tainted property, seized by the Cuban government in 1960 from Havana Docks. Under the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act (known as the Libertad Act or the Helms-Burton Act for its sponsors), companies were given the right to sue for compensation from their seized properties.
A federal district court in Miami found for Havana Docks and awarded damages of $440 million. However, a U.S. Court of Appeals reversed the decision. The cruise line case was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in February over the interpretation of the act. Among the defenses presented by the cruise lines is the argument that the concession for the piers was to have expired in 2004. Further, it is argued that the cruise lines were operating under permits issued by the U.S. government.
The Supreme Court, in an 8 to 1 decision, ruled that the property was, in fact, “tainted” by the 1960 seizure and that Havana Docks only had to show that the cruise lines had used the confiscated property. The majority opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas disagrees with the appellate court’s ruling, finding that the act generally makes those who use property tainted by a past confiscation liable to any U.S. national who owns a claim on that property. Havana Docks' claim for the lost docks was certified at $9 million in 1960.
In a concurring opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, raises concerns that the majority opinion, however, is too broad. She believes it was unlikely that Congress intended in the act that “someone who suffered a finite loss to reap infinite recoveries.” She believes the claim should be finite and not go on so long as anyone continues to make any commercial use of the docks. Justice Sotomayor, in her opinion, raises another point, highlighting that the cruises were operated at a time when U.S. policy was that they were lawful and beneficial to both Cuba and the United States.
The solo dissent came from Justice Elena Kagan, who focused on the assertion that the Cuban government always owned the docks. She points to the 2004 expiration of Havana Docks’ contract. She warns the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the act “treats all property interests as if they were perpetual ones." She sides with the Appellate Court, saying that Havana Docks’ claim should fail because the cruise lines did not use the docks during the time-limited concession.
The ruling sends the suit against the cruise lines back to the lower courts for further arguments.
There are other cases under the Libertade Act also pending in the U.S. courts based on Trump’s 2019 decision not to extend the suspension of the act. Presidents before Trump had suspended the enforcement of the act.
The Supreme Court in February also heard a case under the act brought by Exxon Mobil seeking compensation from the Cuban state-owned oil company CIMEX. The U.S. energy company lost its oil and gas assets in Cuba, which were seized by the Castro regime after the revolution and handed over to the state oil company.
In 2022, it was noted that more than 40 Libertad Act suits had been filed, including cases against commercial shipping companies Maersk, MSC, Crowley Maritime, and Seaboard Marine. Some of the cases brought under the act, such as Crowley Maritime and American Airlines, have reportedly reached settlements, while others will be impacted by the decisions in the cruise line case and the yet-to-be-announced decision by the Supreme Court in the ExxonMobil case.
Sherritt International (S.TO) is finally in the right place at the right time, according to the company’s departing CEO. The Canadian miner is counting on strong demand for electric vehicles to boost nickel prices as a global supply crunch looms for the key battery ingredient.
“Things are all coming into alignment for us all at once after five, six, seven years of slogging in the wilderness of low nickel prices and dealing with debt,” David Pathe told Yahoo Finance Canada in an interview.
He wasn’t kidding. Sherritt bought a mine in Madagascar in 2007 for $1.6 billion, just as nickel prices hit all-time highs. When Pathe took over as CEO in 2012, nickel consistently sold for about a third of peak prices, saddling the company with a money-losing project on top of hefty debts.
Pathe also led Sherritt as U.S. President Barack Obama took historic steps to normalize American-Cuban relations beginning in 2015. When Donald Trump took office in 2017, the U.S. reimposed restrictions, leaving the island nation without enough foreign currency to pay Sherritt’s utility arm. Trump recently put Cuba back on America’s list of state sponsors of terror, blocking newly-elected President Joe Biden from quickly reverting to Obama-era policies.
With Biden in the White House, a major balance sheet overhaul completed in August, and the costly Madagascar mine off the books, Sherritt is hunting for a successor to run the company as a tech-driven, low-cost nickel producer for the growing EV market.
EV batteries are expected to command as much as 37 per cent of global nickel production by 2040, according to the consulting firm Wood Mackenzie. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
Lithium ‘supply crunch’ looms
While Sherritt’s total nickel output is a fraction of mining giants like Vale (VALE), Russia's Norilsk Nickel and BHP’s (BHP) operations in Western Australia, Pathe said the focus among its larger peers has been producing cheaper grades of the metal for making stainless steel.
EV batteries are expected to command as much as 37 per cent of global nickel production by 2040, according to the consulting firm Wood Mackenzie, up from just seven per cent in 2020. However, Sherritt estimates more than 70 per cent of the total nickel supply in 2025 will be lower quality, and therefore useless to the EV battery market.
“For some metals, the energy transition could be like the Chinese economic boom on steroids,” Wood Mackenzie analysts said in a report released in September, predicting nickel demand will increase by two-thirds by 2040.
Pathe points to years of weak prices to explain why no new significant class one nickel capacity has been added since the financial crisis. His shortage prediction follows a public plea from the highest-profile executive in the automotive world.
“We think there is a coming supply crunch, particularly on the class one nickel side,” Pathe said. “We’re now well positioned to take advantage of that. If battery demand comes anywhere close to meeting some of the projections for the next five, 10, 15 years, there simply isn’t enough class one nickel production to meet demand.” Automakers wary of upstream investment
The long-awaited shift to electric vehicles is gaining traction as governments in Canada and the United States build EV adoption into their respective plans for net zero emissions by 2050.
The cash price for nickel on the London Metal Exchange pushed above US$18,300 per tonne in January, its highest level since February 2019, before retreating below US$18,000 to end the month. According to Wood Mackenzie, that’s too low to incentivize miners to produce enough battery metals for “a large number of EVs in a short space of time.”
Pathe expects automakers will forge closer ties with miners, either through long-term off-take contracts or financial stakes in companies, in order to lock in high-quality supply at a consistent price.
Wood Mackenzie notes Tesla, GM, Volkawagen (VOW.DE), Toyota (TM) and Honda (HMC) already have partnerships with battery producers. However, they said the auto industry is wary of investing too far “upstream” in mining assets.
“We have noted OEMs like Tesla and BMW signing off-take deals for metals directly with mining companies. However, with the exception of a few small examples, OEMs are yet to take the plunge in terms of investing in mining,” Wood Mackenzie analysts wrote in a report. “The relative scarcity of battery raw materials, and the potential scramble for them, may warrant a change in attitude.”
Don DeMarco, an analyst at National Bank who covers Sherritt, said it’s “certainly possible” that miners and automakers will team up to maintain a steady supply of battery metals and hedge against volatile commodity prices. Pathe said Sherritt does not name its customers publicly for competitive reasons.
“What I will say is we’ve seen an uptick in investor interest, and the number of meeting requests,” he said. “I think you’ll see the automakers generally doing interesting things in the next two to three years.”
Sherritt’s Toronto-listed stock has climbed more than 150 per cent in the past six months, against a backdrop of improving nickel prices. However, shares remains more than 95 per cent below their all-time peak in 2007, around the time of the company’s ill-fated foray in Madagascar.
Editor's Edition: Biden is surrounded by 'climate hawks'
Joe Biden has not wasted any time in advancing his clean energy agenda. The 46th American president nixed the Keystone XL pipeline and rejoined the Paris Climate Accord on his first day in office. He also appointed a number climate hawks to key positions in his administration, signalling that green thinking will guide key departments such as treasury and transportation for the next four years. Tom Rand, managing partner at ArcTern Ventures, tells Yahoo Finance Canada that's it's hard to overstate how bullish a Biden White House is for clean tech investment. That sentiment has fuelled a stock market rally for companies in the electric vehicle and renewable energy sectors since the election, as well as warnings about a second clean technology bubble. In Canada, Rand expects lawmakers to be more willing to embrace climate-focused policies and support the clean tech sector with financial incentives as their counterparts south of the border increasingly link climate and the economy. He said investors would be wise to follow developments at the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for hints about how America plans to modernize its electricity grid, and which companies stand to benefit. Those developments, he said, often carry over to Canada.
Friday, May 15, 2026
Cuba faces ‘devastating’ ripple effects from US hit to mining
Canadian miner Sherritt International Corp.’s decision to shut down its nickel operations in Cuba under US duress will weigh heavily on an economy that’s already starved for hard currency and fuel.
In addition to halting production of the battery metal, it means Cuba loses revenue from its share of refining operations in Alberta and a metals-commercialization operation that it ran in partnership with Sherritt out of the Bahamas, according to Omar Everleny Perez, the former director of the Center for Cuban Economic Studies at the University of Havana.
Sherritt also produces electricity, oil and gas on the island through a one-third stake in Energas SA, another joint venture with Cuba’s state electric and petroleum companies. Energas, which accounts for about 10% of national capacity, is crucial because it produces the reserve energy needed to power up the country’s aging thermoelectric plants after chronic blackouts, Everleny said.
“The biggest problems are going to show up in electricity production,” he said by phone from the Cuban capital. “This is a devastating blow to our economy.”
Sherritt didn’t respond to requests for comment on the status of those operations. Its shares were down as much as 10% on Friday in Toronto after dropping 42% a day earlier on the Cuba pullout news.
Cuba has been suffering days-long blackouts that have only gotten worse since the US imposed a near-total energy blockade on the island in January. Since taking office for a second time in 2024, President Donald Trump’s administration has been strangling the island’s economy as it tries to end 67 years of one-party rule in the Caribbean nation.
Washington has hit Cuba’s remittances, tourism and its international medical brigades — some of Havana’s top sources of foreign income, said Paolo Spadoni, a professor at Augusta University in Georgia who studies the island’s economy.
The US “has done an incredibly good job of going after their sources of revenue,” he said. “Now they’ve hit nickel exports; there’s very little left to go after.”
As late as 2021, nickel matte — a less refined nickel mixture — was Cuba’s top export, at $788 million, beating out tobacco, and raw sugar, according to data compiled by the Observatory of Economic Complexity. In 2024, the last data available, nickel had slipped to third spot at $88.6 million.
Sherritt has been running mining operations in Cuba since the 1990s and had defied the US embargo for years. That the company is finally pulling out now “is a significant concession to the strength of these sanctions,” Spadoni said.
Attention now turns to other international companies that do business in Cuba, including Spanish hotel operators, after the US signaled they would have about a month to wind down any operations with the country’s military conglomerate before facing potential sanctions.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sherritt was targeted because it “has exploited Cuba’s natural resources to benefit the regime at the expense of the Cuban people,” noting that it was using assets expropriated from US citizens shortly after the 1959 revolution.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez called the latest sanctions, which target foreign citizens and foreign entities operating in Cuba, an act of economic “blackmail and intimidation” that will “further hinder the functioning of the national economy.”
The United States announced new sanctions on Cuban military conglomerate 'Grupo de Administracion Empresarial SA' (GAESA) whose Havana office is pictured here - Copyright AFP YAMIL LAGE Jordane BERTRAND
The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on a Cuban military conglomerate that controls nearly 40 percent of the island’s economy, as well as a Canadian mining company, as part of a mounting pressure campaign.
The sanctions announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio target the Gaesa conglomerate as well as a joint venture involving Canadian mining company Sherritt, which in a near simultaneous announcement said it was leaving Cuba.
Gaesa was already under US sanctions.
The new measures were imposed under an executive order signed last week by President Donald Trump that outlines parts of the Cuban economy for which foreign banks would incur sanctions if they have transactions.
“Just 90 miles from the American homeland, the Cuban regime has brought the island to ruin and auctioned off the island as a platform for foreign intelligence, military and terror operations,” said Rubio, a Cuban-American and vociferous critic of Havana.
“Additional designations can be expected in the following days and weeks,” he warned.
Rubio said that Gaesa was “designed to generate income not for the Cuban people, but only for the benefit of its corrupt elite.”
The sanctions also targeted the conglomerate’s president, Brigadier General Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera.
A Miami Herald investigation based on purported leaked documents estimated that Gaesa had $18 billion in assets in early 2024, in line with the level of expenditure by the state itself.
Writing on X, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said that “with the additional measures of collective punishment announced today against Cuba, the US government confirms its genocidal intention against the Cuban nation and clears all doubts on the false nature of its pretexts to attack our country.”
– ‘Exploited Cuban resources’ –
Besides Gaesa, Rubio was also harshly critical of the Cuban investments of Sherritt, which mines for nickel and cobalt in the northeast of the island.
He said that Sherritt’s joint venture with the state had “exploited Cuba’s natural resources to benefit the regime at the expense of the Cuban people” and that it “profits from assets that were originally expropriated by the Cuban regime from US persons and corporations.”
In a statement Sherritt announced the immediate suspension of its participation in all joint ventures in Cuba and the repatriation of its expatriate staff.
It said the sanctions “materially alter” Sherritt’s ability to continue business in Cuba and “may also result in financial or other providers being unable or unwilling to continue to support Sherritt’s operations or other business activities.”
In mid-February, the company had already announced the suspension of its operations in Cuba due to the oil embargo imposed by the United States on the island.
Trump has mused about taking over arch-foe Cuba, which has been under a US embargo almost continuously since the 1959 communist revolution of Fidel Castro.
In January, he halted oil shipments from Cuba’s main supplier Venezuela and threatened other countries with tariffs if they sought to make up the shortfall.
Since then he has allowed only one Russian oil tanker through.
Three UN special experts said jointly Thursday that the fuel blockade amounted to “energy starvation,” and had “grave consequences” for human rights and development.
Monday, May 18, 2026
Canadas Sherritt to dissolve Cuba mining venture following US sanctions
Sherritt International Corp., a Canadian company that has invested in Cuba for decades, said it will seek to dissolve its nickel mining joint venture on the island due to US sanctions.
The metals producer seeks to force the breakup of its joint venture with Cuba’s General Nickel Company SA, its partner in the Moa nickel mine and a Canadian metals refinery, Sherritt said in a Friday statement. The process could take months or even years under existing agreements, so the Toronto-based firm said it’s also seeking a court order to accelerate the breakup.
Sherritt is offering to relinquish its 50% stake in the Cuba mine in exchange for full ownership of the refinery in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, while also seeking a C$277 million ($202 million) equalization payment from its Cuban partner because mining assets are worth more. The company also said it will surrender its interest in Energas, an energy business in Cuba.
The company’s shares rose 4.6% to 11.5 Canadian cents as of 1:36 p.m. in Toronto.
Sherritt has been in turmoil since US President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this month targeting non-US individuals and entities doing business in Cuba, which has faced sweeping US sanctions since the 1960s. The upheaval triggered a wave of departures, including three board members, the chief financial officer, and triggered a more than 50% drop in its share price.
Sherritt, which has been mining cobalt and nickel in Cuba since the 1990s, said earlier this week it would be unable to release its first-quarter results as scheduled on May 15.
Despite the hand wringing and crocodile tears from the Canadian Mining industry about Bolivia's planned nationalizations of oil and mining, there is nothing to fear from it.
TORONTO Bolivia's plan to nationalize its natural-gas industry and exert greater state control over all of its natural resources has North American mining companies fretting over their future prospects extracting the nation's rich resources of gold, silver and tin. The chairman of one of the world's largest gold-mining firms told shareholders he would now "put my buck" on exploration in Pakistan, rather than the South American countries that are erecting more roadblocks to foreign investors. Patricia Dillon, president of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, said plans by Bolivia to raise taxes and royalties on foreign mining firms are disconcerting.
Cuba is a excellent example of cooperation between a Canadian Mining Giant and a state-capitalist regime. I am speaking of Sherritt Gordon. Which has revived the nickel mines, coal production and oil production in Cuba based on an unheard of 50/50 deal.
China, Canada seek crude off Cuba, but not US HAVANA (AFP) - China will send 12 hi-tech rigs to drill for oil in Cuban waters of the Gulf of Mexico, officials have confirmed, irking US lawmakers that US firms cannot prospect in nearby US waters. Cuba has stepped up work on a total of 36 new oil wells with Chinese companies and Canada's Sherritt, about four kilometers (2.5 miles) off the north coast, officials said privately.
Ian Delaney's Cuban adventure laid the groundwork for his latest contrarian project: Canada and its coal, WENDY STUECK writes
At the time, the only two places in the world with a surplus of nickel and a shortage of refining capacity were Russia and Cuba. Talks with Russian interests went nowhere. But by 1991, Sherritt had struck a deal to buy metal from Cuba, an arrangement it cemented through a joint venture in 1994.
The Canadian-Cuban partnership made sense for both parties: Sherritt was hungry for metal and Cuba, reeling from the disappearance of billions in financial aid after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, was desperate for hard currency.
One party, however, was mightily displeased. The United States, which imposed a sweeping trade embargo on communist Cuba in 1961, watched with consternation as foreign investors, including Sherritt, moved into the country.
Slammed by U.S. critics for daring to do business with a communist dictator, Mr. Delaney launched a company to do just that. In 1995, the former Sherritt was split in two, with one arm holding the fertilizer business and the other set up to focus solely on Cuba.
In 1996, the Helms-Burton Act came into effect. The legislation opened the door to lawsuits against companies that "traffic" in property confiscated in the Cuban revolution of 1959, and to this day prohibits Mr. Delaney and other Sherritt executives from setting foot in the United States.
Through it all, Mr. Delaney chomped on Cuban cigars, trumpeted the potential of the Cuban business scene and said one should never back down from a fight.
It's a trait that he's still known for.
"Ian is very much a 'screw you' kind of guy," says long-time acquaintance Jeff Green, chairman of Toronto-based Paradigm Capital Inc.
Something the Canadian Miners in Bolivia should consider. Instead of whining about how they intend to invest in Pakistan, home of the Taliban and Osama bin Laden Inc., instead of Bolivia.
A capital strike by the Canadian Miners against the people of Bolivia will not result in harm to Bolivia, but will give another black eye to a Canadian industry that already has a poor international reputation for pollution, expolitation and environmental disasters.
Suck it up and make a fair deal with Bolivia. After all Canadians pride themselves in being fair.
Sherritt plans to expand Cuban nickel mine Canadian Mining Journal Staff | November 4, 2021 The Moa nickel mine in Cuba is a joint venture of Sherritt and General Nickel.
Credit: Sherritt International
Sherritt International (TSX: S) is making plans to expand production and lengthen the life of the Moa nickel-cobalt mine in Cuba. Moa is a joint venture of Sherritt (50%) and General Nickel Co. of Cuba (50%).
The plan calls for a multi-phased approach, and work will include a new slurry preparation plant and expansion of other circuits at the mill. Existing equipment at Sherritt’s 100%-owned refinery in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, is part of the plan.
Moa is a lateritic nickel deposit mined by open pit methods. The ore is pressure acid leached on-site and then transported to the refinery in Canada. Finished nickel and cobalt are produced as well as a byproduct ammonium sulphate fertilizer.
The most recent 43-101 resource estimate at Moa was completed in 2019. At that time, the project had 111.9 million measured tonnes grading 1.03% nickel and 0.13% cobalt. The indicated portion was 46 million tonnes at 0.94% nickel and 0.12% cobalt. The inferred resource was 32.6 million tonnes grading 0.89% nickel and 0.13% cobalt.
A Canadian mining company that is among Cuba’s largest foreign investors is consulting with advisers and stakeholders after President Donald Trump expanded US sanctions against the struggling Caribbean nation.
Sherritt International Corp., which is due to report earnings next week, issued a statement Monday after markets closed saying it’s assessing the implications of Trump’s latest measures.
The executive order signed on Friday targets almost any non-US citizen or entity that conducts business on the communist-run island, which has been subject to broad economic sanctions since the 1960s. The new measures will focus on key sectors including defense, mining, finance and security.
Toronto-based Sherritt mines cobalt and nickel in eastern Cuba, processing the metal at its refinery in Alberta. In February, after Trump imposed a de facto fuel blockade on the island, the company announced a temporary halt to its Cuban operations.
Trump seized the leader of Venezuela, Cuba’s main ally, in early January and then blocked all but one Russian tanker from delivering oil to the island — exacerbating chronic power outages and leading to a dearth of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. The US president is hoping intense economic pressure will topple Cuba’s government after 67 years of one-party rule.
Sherritt gambled on entering Cuba in the 1990s, when Fidel Castro tentatively opened the island’s economy to foreign investment after the fall of the Soviet Union. Once seen as a barometer for for the country’s economic prospects, Sherritt’s stock is trading at around 27 Canadian cents, giving it a market value of C$186 million ($137 million). That’s down from a peak of C$4.8 billion in 2008.
A claim against Sherritt’s mine in eastern Cuba is among thousands of outstanding property disputes certified by the US government, with the asset valued at more than $88 million before interest. The facility was owned by a subsidiary of what is now Freeport-McMoRan Inc. before it was nationalized after the 1959 revolution that brought Castro to power.
The Toronto-based nickel and cobalt producer said the transition follows previous guidance that refinery operations would continue only until mid-June based on available inventory. The company has implemented shutdown procedures and will retain the personnel and resources required to keep the facility in a safe and secure state while operations remain suspended.
Sherritt said it is preserving cash, managing costs and preparing the refinery for a potential restart while carrying out maintenance work during the shutdown.
Sherritt mined nickel and cobalt at its Moa joint venture in eastern Cuba and processed the material at its refinery near Edmonton.
Impact
The refinery will remain idle until mining and processing activities at Moa resume and the feed pipeline is rebuilt. Sherritt said it cannot provide guidance on when that may occur and continues to suspend its direct participation in the Cuban joint venture.
The company continues to produce fertilizers and sulphuric acid for resale, providing a source of revenue while its core nickel and cobalt operations remain constrained.
Sherritt has faced mounting operational and financial challenges since the US expanded sanctions against Cuba in May. The measures have disrupted the company’s primary source of refinery feed and forced it to focus on preserving cash while preparing for an eventual restart.
US new sanctions revive a decades-old clash with Sherritt, rooted in the 1990s. (Image courtesy of Sherritt International.)
