Canadian miner invested in Cuba says it's asssessing Trump's fresh sanctions

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Canadian miner invested in Cuba says it's asssessing Trump's fresh sanctions

Sherritt's operation in Cuba

A Canadian mining company that is among Cuba’s largest foreign investors, Sherritt International Corporation, is consulting with advisers and stakeholders after President Donald Trump expanded US sanctions against the struggling Caribbean nation.

Sherritt, which is due to report earnings week, issued a statement on 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 C$0.27, giving it a market value of C$186-million, or $137-million, which is 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 before it was nationalized after the 1959 revolution that brought Castro to power.

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