Cuba nickel mining investments depended on one company for three decades, until 2026 sanctions forced it out

Cuba nickel mining investments hinge on one company

Cuba nickel mining investments have rested on one foreign company, Sherritt International of Canada, for at least three decades. The United States Helms Burton Act lets United States citizens sue over property Cuba seized from Americans in 1960, under Title III, and Title IV bars United States entry to anyone tied to that seizure. In the summer of 1996, the State Department used Title IV to bar Sherritt International executives from entering the United States. That personal travel ban, not a ban on the mining itself, was the only real United States pressure on Sherritt for three decades, and it never stopped the mining.

Nickel and cobalt output fell before the operation ended

Sherritt runs Moa Nickel in Moa, Cuba, as a joint venture split exactly 50% to Sherritt and 50% to the Cuban government. The joint venture produced 33,108 metric tons of finished nickel in 2019, according to the United States Geological Survey. Sherritt reported a half share of 12,620 metric tons of finished nickel for 2025. Doubled, since the 2 owners split the venture exactly in half, that gives a full total of about 25,240 metric tons for 2025. That doubling is a calculation this article makes, not a number either source states directly, and it shows finished nickel fell about 23.8% from 2019 to 2025. Sherritt blames low ore volume, power outages and Hurricane Melissa for the decline.

United States sanctions on Cuba were already disrupting this mine years before the 2026 crisis. A 2023 United States government report on 2019 operations states plainly that diesel fuel shortages that year were mainly caused by economic and trade sanctions from the United States.

We are implementing a multi-faceted turnaround plan that includes new mining equipment, additional technical expertise, and debottlenecking projects to improve efficiency and reliability.

Dr. Peter Hancock, interim chief executive officer of Sherritt International Corporation. Source 3.

A new sanctions order forced Sherritt out in May 2026

On May 1, 2026, a new executive order let Washington sanction Sherritt itself for the first time, not only its executives. Six days later, on May 7, 2026, Sherritt suspended direct participation in the joint venture and moved to dissolve it entirely. General Nickel Company, the Cuban state partner, owed Sherritt approximately 277 million dollars when the venture ended, a figure the release does not name a currency for. Sherritt also gave up a one third stake in Energas, the largest independent power producer in Cuba, plus 2 oil and gas exploration contracts.

American investors are competing for Sherritt itself

By August 2026, 2 rival groups of American investors were competing to buy 55% of Sherritt International, the first United States capital in Cuban mining in 6 decades if either deal closes. One group, led by Ray Washburne, a former head of a Trump era development bank, operates through Gillon Capital. A rival group formed in late June 2026 includes Glencore and Kyma Capital of London. Both bids need approval from the United States State and Treasury Departments, plus a settlement with holders of decades old claims from the 1960s confiscations in Cuba, including one on the same mine, certified at 88,349,000 dollars.

I have already written to Gillon and explained that we own those mines that border those of Sherritt and that Sherritt has been extracting from.

William Pitt, a retired engineer in Miami who holds a family claim on land bordering the Moa concession that Sherritt operates. Source 5.