Sherritt International

Mining

Sherritt has most of its profit coming from mining operations. Sherritt licenses its proprietary technologies and provides metallurgical services to mining and refining operations worldwide. The company has a portfolio of mineral rights on which it earns royalties from the production of potash and other minerals.

The company has nickel laterite mines in Moa, Cuba and near Moramanga, Madagascar. Sherritt has metal refineries in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada and in Toamasina, Madagascar. Sherritt produces nickel, cobalt, ammonia, sulphuric acid, and ammonium sulphate at its Fort Saskatchewan facility.

The nickel and cobalt mining operations at the Ambatovy mine in Madagascar began production in second quarter 2012 and the Ambatovy project received its export permit in Q3 2012. Sherritt holds 40% ownership of the project. Sherrit's partners in the project are Japan's Sumitomo Corporation and the Korea Investment Corporation. The Ambatovy project is an integrated production system encompassing all stages from mining to refinery in the same country. The Ambatovy venture has two nickel deposits located near Moramanga, Madagascar. The ore from these deposits is delivered via pipeline to a processing plant and refinery located near the Port of Toamasina.

Oil and gas

Sherritt operates oil and gas fields leased from the Cuban government (Varadero, Yumuri, Puerto Escondido) and has interest in some fields in Spain and Pakistan. Sherritt has invested CDN $215 million for the construction of two integrated gas processing and electrical generation systems in Cuba. The natural gas feedstock was previously flared and wasted. These operations commissioned in mid-2002 have a combined capacity of 226 megawatts. Sherritt has natural gas activities on the island. Sherrit built and operates a natural gas feeder pipeline network, and a 30 Kilometer pipeline to Havana. In 2010, Cuba’s onshore and coastal 2010 crude oil production was estimated at approximately 50,000 barrels per day, of which 11,128 barrels per day represents Sherritt’s net equity in that production.

In Cuba, Sherritt extended one of its existing production-sharing contracts until 2028, and signed contracts for two new blocks that have 25-year terms and together encompass more than 1,200 km² in the same area that the company is already producing. In 2015, Sherritt reported its cost to produce oil is less than US$9 per barrel.

Electricity

Sherritt owns 30% of Energas, an electricity producing company in Cuba. Energas supplies 11.6% of Cuba’s electric power. The nickel mined by the company can be used to make cheaper solar cells. Nickel is used to make batteries and new developments in batteries use nickel. Sherritt has two major joint ventures that produce cobalt. Cobalt is a primary component of battery cathodes, and cobalt is needed for electric vehicles.

Fertilizer

Sherritt owns assets, which produce fertilizer products, primarily for sale in the Western Canadian market, and which provide some of the critical input requirements for the Fort Saskatchewan metals refinery. Revenue is derived primarily from the sale of nitrogen fertilizers, and of sulphate fertilizers produced directly or indirectly as a by-product of the metals refining process.

History

The company was named after Carl Sherritt, an American citizen and teamster on local rail construction projects who, after becoming a trapper and prospector, staked copper prospects in the Cold Lake area of Manitoba; and J. Peter Gordon, a civil engineer who had also worked on the railroad construction. Eldon Brown was the company's first employee and general superintendent.

The Sherritt process, hydrometallurgical cobalt extraction techniques that enhance recovery from nickel-cobalt sulfide concentrates, is named for Sherritt Gordon Mines Ltd.

Accidents