A Cuban nickel venture with Canadian mining company Sherritt International is headed toward a record output of unrefined nickel plus cobalt, state media in eastern Holguin province, said on Wednesday.

"Today the Pedro Soto Alba plant met its production target of nickel plus cobalt for the year, and plans by December 31 to reach a new record of more than 37,700 tonnes," Radio Angulo, located in Moa, Holguin, where the industry is located, reported.

State monopoly Cubaniquel and Sherritt are also partners in a Canadian refinery where output from the Pedro Soto Alba plant is shipped, and after processing it is marketed by yet another venture between them.

There was no word on production at Cubaniquel's Che Guevara plant, also located in Moa and with a capacity of around 30,000 tonnes, and its Rene Ramos Latourt facility at Nicaro Holguin, which has a capacity of 10,000 to 15,000 tonnes.

The two Cubaniquel plants have experienced various production problems this year, according to industry sources and scattered local media reports.

The government has not reported annual production of unrefined nickel plus cobalt since output dipped well below 70,000 tonnes in 2010.

Cuba produced 70,100 tonnes in 2009 and 70,400 tonnes in 2008, after averaging between 74,000 and 75,000 tonnes during much of the decade.

The Caribbean island is one of the world's largest nickel producers and supplies 10 percent of the world's cobalt, according to the Basic Industry Ministry.

The Cuban nickel industry was the subject of a number of investigations over the last two years, resulting in the arrest of some plant managers and officials at the ministry.

Copyright Reuters, 2011

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