Havana, April 19 (ACN) On March 4, 2005, Granma newspaper published an Agreement, between the Cuban company CUBANIQUEL and the Canadian company Sherrit International, for the expansion of production facilities for the production of nickel and cobalt by means of an investment funded equally by both parties.

This investment will bring production capacity up to 49,000 tons of nickel and cobalt per year.

Since this announcement was made, Canadian and Cuban experts have worked hard to put in place the corresponding infrastructure making it possible to celebrate, during a ceremony on Tuesday at the Pedro Soto Alba facilities in Moa, the opening of the construction phase of this important expansion project. Correspondingly, an expansion of the Corefco nickel-cobalt refinery in Canada is being planned.

The ceremony was attended by the ministers of Basic Industry, Foreign Investment and Cooperation, Foreign Trade, and Public Works; Yadira Garcia, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba; Marta Lomas; Raul de la Nuez; Fidel Figueroa; and several local political representatives and officials from the nickel industry.

Canadian participation included Mr. Ian W. Delaney, Sherrit International's Executive Chairman; Mr. Jowdat Waheed, the corporation's President and Chief Executive Officer; and several other high-ranking Sherrit International executives.

During his address, Mr. Delaney said that both he and the company were pleased at having arrived at the inauguration of the expansion project after 15 years of experiences working together with CUBANIQUEL, in the operation of the Pedro Soto Alba Joint Company. He noted that the Pedro Soto Alba plant is one of most efficient nickel production facilities in the world.

Mr. Delaney said that, over the years, the business partnership has faced and --thanks to the expertise of the joint Cuban-Canadian collective-- dealt with important challenges. He added that, without a doubt, this new stage represents an even bigger challenge that will require a lot of intelligence, discipline and professionalism to be able to achieve the goals set out by both parties.

Yadira Garcia, the minister for Basic Industry, also spoke at the ceremony, acknowledging on behalf of her ministry and the Cuban government the positive results achieved by the Joint Company since its inception. She concurred with Mr. Delaney that this new phase represents the greatest challenge faced by the company. Garcia said that she was confident that the goal would be met thanks to the high degree of experience, professionalism and dedication that characterizes the staff at Sherrit and the workers, technicians and managers of the Cuban nickel industry in general and of the Pedro Soto Alba plant in particular.

The ceremony was concluded with the unveiling of a memorial plaque, marking the beginning of this new expansion phase.

http://www.ain.cubaweb.cu/idioma/ingles/...cion-niquel.htm

Upsssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!

So ganz neu scheint diese Meldung dann doch nicht mehr zu sein.....

*schäm*