Sherritt International, of Toronto, Canada, has finalized arrangements with its partners on the Ambatovy nickel project in Madagascar, who will provide loans to fund Sherritt’s share of the remaining capital spending on the project. The Ambatovy project, which is currently under construction, is designed to produce 60,000tpa of nickel and 5600tns per annum of cobalt over 27 years. In February, the owners of Ambatovy, led by operator Sherritt, revised the estimated cost to build the mine to USD 4.52 billion, a big jump from the previous figure of USD 3.4 billion. Sherritt owns 40%, Sumitomo and Korea Resources each have a 27.5% stake in the mine and the project’s engineering contractor SNC-Lavalin also has a 5% interest. The project’s existing USD 2.1 billion senior project financing is unaffected by the new loan arrangements.