The South American Country has plans to reduce production at one of its two nickel plants in order to carry out maintenance and other capital improvements.
The cutbacks will take effect this year at the Ernesto Che Guevara processing facility located in the eastern Holguin province. The state-owned plant began operations in 1986 and has the capacity of about 30,000 tons of unrefined nickel plus cobalt a year at a cost of over $12,000 a ton. The plant’s head of maintenance has reported it will be the biggest overhaul in the plant’s history. Workers will have to produce 14,700 tons of unrefined nickel plus cobalt during the overhaul, which will be a momentous challenge.
The Pedro Soto Alba plant, Cuba’s most important facility, will remain open. It is a joint venture between the Canadian mining company Sherritt International and the state monopoly of Cubaniquel. The facility’s output averages 38,000 tons per year at a cost of $5,000 to $7,000 per ton.
The production of unrefined nickel plus cobalt in Cuba fell short of its 62,000-ton target in 2013, but the government has yet to provide a reason why. The country is one of the world’s largest nickel producers and supplies 10 percent of the world’s cobalt.