Loading ...Over 240 mining and energy projects waiting for investors in Cuba
Cuba, the world’s sixth largest nickel producer and one of the top 10 nickel mining countries, is experiencing a sudden, but still modest, investment rush triggered by an ongoing reconciliation between the Caribbean nation and the U.S.
The country, which also holds significant deposits of other minerals as well as oil, has 246 projects hoping to attract capital and be developed, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey report published earlier this month.
“Cuba’s geology is complex, and the country has a variety of mineral commodity and energy resources,” said Steven Fortier, Director of the USGS National Minerals Information Centre.
While mineral production is largely state-controlled, the government has taken steps to change its old mining laws.
As a result, Canadians companies already have a presence in Cuba’s mining sector. One of them is Calgary-based miner Sherritt International (TSX: S), the Latin American country’s largest foreign investor, with nickel mining, oil-and-gas and electricity interests.
The ore the Toronto-based firm extracts there — under a joint venture with the country’s government — is refined in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, but because of the U.S. embargo, none of that refined nickel is allowed south of the border.
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