Sherritt International (TSX: S, Stock Forum) found itself in a good-news bad-news scenario when the company released YTD and monthly production figures for the Ambatovy Joint Venture nickel and cobalt mine located in Madagascar.
According to the news release, the mining operation, of which the company hold 40% interest in, produced 1,108 tonnes of finished nickel and 67 tonnes of finished cobalt during the month of November, significantly lower than the preceding month which saw production levels of 1,554 tonnes of finished nickel and 134 tonnes of finished cobalt.
The good news came in the YTD production comparison where YTD 2014 had a total of 13,520 tonnes of finished nickel and 1,090 tonnes of finished cobalt, beating YTD 2013 numbers of 9,023 tonnes of finished nickel and 740 tonnes of finished cobalt by 50% and 47% respectively.
The slow down of production in November was attributed to a major planned maintenance program at the plant site where maintenance included servicing two PAL autoclaves, one acid plant and multiple vessels in the refinery. The majority of circuits have returned to service with one autoclave expected to be online by mid-December as scheduled.
The company will continue to work toward ramping up production at the facility to reach the key milestone of 54,000 tonnes of nickel on an annualized basis which approximately 90% of nameplate capacity.
Sherritt International was in the news recently when the Toronto-based company announced a production update for October on the Ambatovy nickel operation.
Traders didn't seem affected by the mix of news as shares edged up 0.43% to $2.35 per share.
Currently there are 297.5m outstanding shares with a market cap of $699.2 million.