Sherritt has forecasted its 2020 nickel and cobalt production in the range of 32,000-34,000mt and 3,300-3,600mt, respectively, at its Moa Joint Venture (MJV) plant. These outputs are projected to be slightly higher than 2019.
It also expects the net cost of nickel this year to remain at 4.50/lb, the same as last year. The company exceeded its 2019 nickel guidance of 31,000-33,000mt. It reported an output of 33,108mt during the year of which 8,098mt was produced in Q4 2019. For cobalt, Sherritt achieved an actual production of 3,376mt in 2019 against a guidance of 3,300-3,600mt, with 822mt produced in Q4.
However, nickel production at the company’s Ambatovy Joint Venture (AJV) plant failed to meet expectations with the plant producing 33,733mt of nickel against a 2019 guidance of 34,000-36,000mt. The company attributed the shortfall to unaplanned shutdowns and major machine repairs.
Nickel production at AJV in Q4 reached 8,483mt. Cobalt production at AJV totaled 2,900mt in 2019, meeting the company’s guidance of 2,800-3,000mt. In Q4 AJV produced 742mt of cobalt.
Sherritt credited the strategies it implemented throughout the year for offsetting any potential adverse effects that the CN Rail strike could have had on Q4 results.