Sherritt-Canada’s Nickel Mines in Cuba Need Oil to Operate
Operations could be affected if Venezuelan oil stops coming
In addition, the Canadian company’s production of natural gas that supplies Havana is declining.
HAVANA TIMES — US President Trump’s warning that he will cut off Venezuelan oil supplies to Cuba—more than plausible after the capture on January 3 of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores—threatens to worsen Sherritt International’s problems on the island. The Canadian giant depends on imported fuel to operate the nickel and cobalt mines it runs in Moa, Holguin, which, according to William Pitt, have been the company’s economic backbone.
“A company that was the best foreign investment Cuba has ever had,” notes this US American businessman, whose family had multiple mining properties expropriated by the regime in 1960. As Pitt tells 14ymedio, although historically the power plants and gas wells associated with Sherritt—working in partnership with the state-owned Energas—have produced “the most reliable and best-managed energy services” in the country, this is no longer the case.
“Sherritt has lost so much money that it is now facing a revolt among its shareholders in Canada,” says the businessman, referring to the recent replacement of Leon Binedell as the company’s CEO—just four years after his appointment—by “personnel from another competing company.”
According to a Sherritt statement dated December 8, Binedell will be replaced on an interim basis by Peter Hancock, “an experienced mining industry executive with more than 35 years at Glencore plc, where he led nickel mining operations and participated in the development and commercialization of process technologies.”
The corporate text refrains from criticizing the outgoing Binedell, but makes clear the past few years have not been easy: “Since his appointment in June 2021, Mr. Binedell has led Sherritt through one of the most challenging periods in its history, overseeing progress in several key strategic initiatives, including expansion of the Moa joint venture, implementation of the cobalt swap agreement, optimization of the power division, and completion of debt and equity transactions earlier this year.”
In fact, in last year’s report, the Canadian multinational already warned of the risks of operating in Cuba, where blackouts, fuel shortages, natural disasters, and the loss of workers threatened profitability. In the second quarter of 2025, the company recorded multimillion-dollar losses—down from 51.4 million dollars in the same period of the previous year to 43.7 million—along with a drastic reduction in production and significant cuts to its Canadian workforce, as operating conditions in Cuba deteriorated.
Last year, the Energas–Sherritt plant in Boca de Jaruco (Mayabeque) was repeatedly shut down due to breakdowns, seriously impacting the National Electric System (SEN). With a normal output of between 100 and 120 megawatts (MW), the thermal plant is crucial to the SEN. In fact, the two power plants the Canadian company operates in Cuba—Boca de Jaruco and Varadero (in Matanzas)—have been key to restoring electricity on the island during several total system collapses since late 2024.
Beyond that, as Pitt notes, without electricity Cubans depend on gas for cooking. In most of the country it is liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), sold in cylinders, and in Havana there is also natural gas transported by pipeline to the capital from wells located to the east, near Varadero, Puerto Escondido, and Boca de Jaruco. This latter supply is produced entirely by Sherritt International, the businessman emphasizes.
Thus, whatever affects the Canadian company will affect Havana residents—especially those in the municipalities of Plaza de la Revolucion, Cerro, Centro Habana, La Habana Vieja, Diez de Octubre, Playa, and Marianao. “Without cylinder gas or piped gas to cook, and without electricity for electric stoves, Cubans who have enough money will be able to cook with charcoal (if they can find it, since there isn’t much), and if they can’t find charcoal or don’t have money, with firewood,” Pitt concludes.