Power
For the three months For the nine months
ended ended
2021 2020 2021 2020
$ millions (33
1/3% basis),
except as September September September September
otherwise noted 30 30 Change 30 30 Change
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FINANCIAL
HIGHLIGHTS
Revenue $ 7.3 $ 9.4 (22%) $ 20.2 $ 28.4 (29%)
(Loss) earnings
from operations 0.2 1.6 (88%) (1.1) 4.5 (124%)
Adjusted EBITDA(1) 4.1 6.8 (40%) 10.6 20.3 (48%)
CASH FLOW
Cash provided by
operations $ 3.0 $ 20.9 (86%) $ 17.3 $ 47.6 (64%)
Free cash flow(1) 3.0 20.2 (85%) 17.3 46.9 (63%)
PRODUCTION AND
SALES
Electricity
(GWh(2) ) 110 152 (28%) 320 458 (30%)
AVERAGE-REALIZED
PRICE(1)
Electricity
($/MWh(2) ) $ 54.57 $ 57.55 (5%) $ 53.93 $ 57.67 (6%)
UNIT OPERATING
COSTS(1)
Electricity
($/MWh) 23.14 14.63 58% 23.19 14.44 61%
NET CAPACITY
FACTOR (%) 35 48 (27%) 34 48 (29%)
SPENDING ON CAPITAL
Sustaining $ - $ 0.8 (100%) $ - $ 0.8 (100%)
------- ------- ------- ------- ------- -------
$ - $ 0.8 -100.0% $ - $ 0.8 -100.0%
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(1) For additional information see the Non-GAAP and other financial
measures section.
(2) Gigawatt hours (GWh), Megawatt hours (MWh).
Power production in Q3 2021 was 110 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity, down 28% from 152 GWh produced in the comparable period of 2020. The production decline was due to maintenance activities deferred from 2020 on account of limited liquidity availability and reduced availability of spare parts.
Revenue in Q3 2021 totaled $7.3 million, down 22% from $9.4 million for the same quarter last year. The revenue decline was primarily due to lower power production.
The average-realized price in Q3 2021 was $54.57/MWh, down 5% from Q3 2020. The decrease was primarily due to the strengthening of the Canadian currency relative to the U.S. dollar.
Unit operating costs in Q3 2021 were $23.14/MWh, up 58% from $14.63/MWh for last year. The year-over-year increase was attributable to lower sales volume and higher operational spending on maintenance activities deferred from 2020. The increase in unit operating costs in Q3 2021 was partially offset by the impact of a strengthening Canadian dollar as costs are denominated in U.S. currency, and by the effect of Cuba's unification of its currencies in lowering labour and third-party service costs.
The Power business unit had negligible capital spend for the three months ended September 30, 2021.
Sherritt continues to be in discussion with its Cuban partners to extend its power generation agreement with Energas, which is currently slated to expire in March 2023.
Technologies
Sherritt Technologies continued its efforts to transition from a cost centre to an incubator of industry solutions that can also be commercialized externally or applied internally to improve operational performance, reduce carbon emissions, and support growth initiatives, such as efforts to de-bottleneck production, evaluate brownfield expansion opportunities and increase mineral reserves.
In Q3, the primary activities of Sherritt Technologies centred on supporting brownfield expansion opportunities at the Moa JV, including preparations for final testing to support a change in mine planning to use an economic cut-off grade to potentially upgrade resources into reserves and significantly expand the life of mine, and support Sherritt's growth strategy.
Other activities included efforts to commercialize Sherritt's most advanced, innovative technologies. In particular, Sherritt Technologies continued to make progress on its enhanced proprietary process to fully upgrade heavy oil, refining residues and bitumen. Sherritt's process provides a number of environmental and business benefits, including eliminating the need for bitumen diluent and thereby increasing pipeline capacity, increasing the economic value of the oil transported to downstream markets, as well as reduced energy consumption due to the elimination of energy intensive unit operations, which results in lower carbon emissions. Discussions with external parties regarding the potential use of Sherritt's process have identified multiple, distinct scenarios for the application of this technology. External industry expertise has been engaged to assist in further developing these specific opportunities. Piloting of the new catalyst system, which allows for full upgrading instead of partial upgrading, is scheduled to occur during 2022, and will be designed to test the multiple product and processing scenarios.
Sherritt Technologies is also pursuing the commercialization of its proprietary process for the treatment of copper concentrates with higher arsenic content. Arsenic is a poisonous element requiring significant mitigation and management costs rendering certain copper projects uneconomical. With copper demand expected to grow significantly over the next decade, Sherritt's advanced hydrometallurgical process technology fulfills a pressing industry need, presenting a significant step change in the stabilization of arsenic bearing solid waste, produces net zero carbon emissions, extends the life of aging copper mines, reduces treatment costs and capitalizes on existing infrastructure. Discussions have started with external parties on a variety of potential commercialization routes on optimal sourcing options for laterite ore and copper concentrate. Different copper products can be considered, depending on specific project drivers and circumstances.
OUTLOOK
2021 Production, unit operating costs and capital spending guidance
Based on operational results achieved through September 30, prevailing commodity prices, anticipated performance and expected input cost and planned capital spend for the year, Sherritt updated its production and planned capital spend guidance for 2021
Guidance Year-to-date Updated
for 2021 - actuals - 2021 guidance -
Production volumes,
unit operating costs
and spending on
capital Total Total Total
---------------------- --------------- -------------- ---------------
Production volumes
Moa Joint Venture
(tonnes, 100% basis)
Nickel, finished 32,000 - 34,000 22,652 31,000 - 32,000
Cobalt, finished 3,300 - 3,600 2,574 No change
Electricity (GWh,
331/3% basis) 450 - 500 320 No change
Unit operating costs
Moa Joint Venture - $4.25 - $4.75 $4.30 No change
NDCC (US$ per pound)
Electricity (unit $30.50 - $32.00 $23.19 No change
operating cost, $ per
MWh)
Spending on capital
Moa Joint Venture (50% US$44 (CDN$57) US$21 (CDN$26) US$35 (CDN$44)
basis), Fort Site
(100% basis)(1)
Power (331/3% basis) US$1 (CDN$1.3) US$0 (CDN$0) No change
----------------------- --------------- -------------- ---------------
Spending on capital US$45 (CDN$58) US$21 (CDN$26) US$36 (CDN$45)
(excluding Corporate)
----------------------- --------------- -------------- ---------------
(1) Spending is 50% of US$ expenditures for the Moa JV and 100%
expenditures for Fort Site fertilizer and utilities.
NON-GAAP AND OTHER FINANCIAL MEASURES
Management uses the following non-GAAP and other financial measures in this press release and other documents: combined revenue, adjusted EBITDA, average-realized price, unit operating cost/net direct cash cost (NDCC), adjusted net earnings/loss from continuing operations, adjusted earnings/loss from continuing operations per share and combined free cash flow.
Management uses these measures to monitor the financial performance of the Corporation and its operating divisions and believes these measures enable investors and analysts to compare the Corporation's financial performance with its competitors and/or evaluate the results of its underlying business. These measures are intended to provide additional information, not to replace International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) measures, and do not have a standard definition under IFRS and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. As these measures do not have a standardized meaning, they may not be comparable to similar measures provided by other companies.
The non-GAAP and other financial measures are reconciled to their most directly comparable IFRS measures in the non-GAAP and other financial measures section of Sherritt's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021.
CONFERENCE CALL AND WEBCAST
Sherritt will hold its conference call and webcast November 4, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time to review its Q3 2021 results. Dial-in and webcast details are as follows:
North American callers, please dial: 1 (866) 521-4909
International callers, please dial: (647) 427-2311
Live webcast: www.sherritt.com