Havana, Mar 4 (Prensa Latina) Cuba has signed an important agreement with the Canadian company Sherrit International Corp., aimed at expanding their standing joint venture in the nickel industry, Granma newspaper reports Friday.

Cuban President Fidel Castro and Sherrit director Ian Delaney presided over the signing ceremony. The aim of the accord is to augment nickel production in the Pedro Soto Alba Company, located in the eastern Cuban region of Moa, and also in the nickel refinery in that northern country.

The project will be financed by $450 million, equally divided between Sherrit International Corp. and Cuba (50 percent each).

With this agreement, the Pedro Soto Alba Company will boost its current annual turnout by 16,000 tons of nickel plus cobalt, and the Canadian plant will benefit with a new technology facelift to be able to process all of the Cuban plant´s production.

The understanding includes chronograms for expansion and guaranteeing conditions for mineral resources to secure operations at the Moa Nickel joint venture in the next 25 years. It also envisions measures to protect the environment in the areas linked to the project.

Thus, adding the projected turnout increases in the Che Guevara and René Latour plants, recently agreed with China, the production of nickel and cobalt in Cuba will top no less than 121,000 tons in the next two years and half.