Moa Nickel SA

Moa Nickel SA is a joint venture between Sherritt International, the Canadian mining and energy company, and Cuban state entities, operating the Moa Bay nickel and cobalt mine in Holguín province on Cuba's eastern coast. Established in the early 1990s after the collapse of Soviet-bloc preferential trade, Moa Nickel is the principal foreign-invested operation in Cuba's nickel sector and one of the largest hard-currency-earning assets the Cuban state retains.

On 7 May 2026, OFAC extended the [Cuba-EO] tag onto Moa Nickel SA's pre-existing SDN entry under the [Cuba] programme, simultaneously with the inaugural Executive Order 14404 designation of Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera. The dual-tag treatment preserves all prior Cuban Assets Control Regulations prohibitions while adding the EO 14404 overlay, complicating any future negotiated easing because relief would require lifting tags under both authorities.

The practical effect on Sherritt is significant: the company has navigated US sanctions exposure since the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, with Title III provisions allowing US-citizen lawsuits over confiscated property periodically active and suspended. The added [Cuba-EO] tag intensifies counterparty risk for any bank, insurer or shipping line dealing with Moa Nickel, even where prior CACR-only exposure had been priced in. Moa Bay's nickel and cobalt output is exported principally to Chinese refiners and European battery-supply customers.