Sherritt transfers Mining Equity to withdraw from Ambatovy Nickel Joint Venture

Published: Mar 13, 2020 15:34

SMM3, March 13-Canadian mining company Sherritt International Corp recently announced that it would leave the Ambatovy nickel joint venture in Madagascar and transfer its 12 per cent stake in the nickel plant to two partners, including Sumitomo Japan. Under the shareholder agreement, Sherritt waived its voting rights and influence over the operation of the plant.

The mine and the Ambatovy plant produced 33733 tons of refined nickel and 2900 tons of refined cobalt in 2019. Sherritt said that as nickel prices continued to fall and the company wanted to sell its stake in Ambatovy12% to protect cash flow, the deal, subject to approval by all stakeholders, was expected to close on April 30, which would reduce Sherritt's debt by about $415 million.

Ambatovy Joint Venture is a vertically integrated nickel and cobalt mining, processing, refining and marketing joint venture that produces Category 1 finished nickel. Sherritt operates the facility and owns 12 per cent of the facility, while other important partners are Sumitomo and Korea Resources. Sherritt is one of the world's largest producers of nickel laterite, operating and investing in Canada, Cuba and Madagascar.

The Ambatovy mining area is located 80 km east of Antananarivo, the capital of Madanaska, near the town of Moramanga. In the mine, Sherritt has been carrying out open-pit mining and mineral processing projects. Laterite slurry from the mine is piped to processing plants and refineries south of the port of Toamasina. The design of Ambatovy is based on the Sherritt hydrometallurgical process, which has been commercially certified in Moa joint ventures and other international commercial operations.

Sherritt raised its forecast for Cuban nickel and cobalt production in 2020 through Moa, a joint venture with General Nickel of Cuba. Moa expects to produce 32000 to 34000 tons of refined nickel and 3300 to 3600 tons of refined cobalt by 2020 as products for licensed vehicle batteries in Mexico.

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