Altos Hornos De Mexico SA AHMSA steel plant

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Altos Hornos De Mexico SA AHMSA steel plant (Siderúrgica Altos Hornos De Mexico S.A. (AHMSA)), also known as AHMSA steel plant, is a steel plant in Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico that operates blast furnace (BF), basic oxygen furnace (BOF), and electric arc furnace (EAF) technology.

Location

The map below shows the exact location of the plant in Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico:

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• Location: Prolongación Juárez S/N Col. La Loma, CP. 25770 Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico
• Coordinates (WGS 84): 26.876889, -101.416612 (exact)

Background

Altos Hornos de Mexico, S.A.B. de C.V. (AHMSA) is the largest integrated steel plant in Mexico, based in the state of Coahuila, 250 kilometers from the United States border.

AHMSA is a national leader in the production and commercialization of flat steel products including hot rolled coil used for machinery parts, wide plate, cold rolled coil, tinplate and tin-free steel, railroad tanks and bridge constructions, and structural shapes. It also produces non-flat steel products like heavy shapes. The company benefits from a fully integrated supply chain, with its own coal and iron mines supplying raw materials to the steel plant.

AHMSA was founded in 1941 in response to steel shortages caused by World War II. The plant's location was chosen for its proximity to the iron and coal mines of Coahuila and the neighboring state of Durango. Steel production officially began with the inauguration of the plant's first blast furnace and hot-rolling mill in 1944. Additional facilities were steadily added over the next three decades, including a cold-rolling mill in 1946, a coking plant in 1955, and a basic oxygen furnace in 1971.

Another major expansion came in 1976, with the addition of a second steel plant that included Mexico's largest and most modern blast furnace, new coking and pelletizing plants, and continuous casting and cold-rolling facilities.

In 1991, following a period of financial instability and rising debt, AHMSA was sold by the Mexican government to its current owner, Grupo Acerero del Norte (GAN). The plant continued to grow and modernize over the ensuing three decades, with the decommissioning of blast furnace No. 1 in 2002, the addition of two new blast furnaces (No. 5 in 1994 and No. 6 in 2010), and the commissioning of a Steckel rolling mill and a 1.2-million tpa Primetals electric arc furnace in 2013 and 2015, respectively.

In 2018, the most recent year for which the company reported official production figures, liquid steel volume at AHMSA reached 4.52 million tons. However, production suffered a 25% dropoff in the first three quarters of 2019, due in part to tariffs imposed by the United States, according to company executive James Pignatelli. By August 2020 AHMSA was reported to be in danger of bankruptcy, with losses of M$4.2 billion (4.2 billion Mexican pesos) in the first quarter of 2020 alone.

Hampered by insufficient capital and ongoing financial pressures, AHMSA was forced to terminate all operations at the Monclova plant at the end of 2022, after Mexico's Federal Electricity Commission cut off power supply to the plant. In March 2023, the US-based investment fund Argentem Creek Partners agreed to buy a controlling share in AHMSA, with plans to return the plant to service. By the end of 2023, the new owners reported that normal steelmaking operations were on schedule to resume sometime in 2024, pending confirmation and formalization of a US $600 million financing package.

Ownership Tree

This ownership tree is part of the Global Energy Ownership Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

Plant Details

Table 1: General Plant Details

Start date	Idled date	Workforce size	Power source	Iron ore source	Coal source
1944	2022-12	7366	40 MW onsite gas-fired power plant (generates more than 50% of steel plant's electricity)	MINOSA & CEMESA Mexican iron mining subsidiaries	MICARE & MIMOSA Mexican coal-mining subsidiaries

Table 2: Ownership and Parent Company Information

Parent company	Parent company PermID	Parent company GEM ID	Owner	Owner company PermID	Owner company GEM ID
Grupo Acerero del Norte SA de CV; natural person(s); small shareholder(s)	4296535922; not applicable; not applicable	E100000131250; E100000123261; E100001015587	Altos Hornos de Mexico SAB de CV	4295884289	E100001010310

Table 3: Process and Products

Steel product category	Steel products	Steel sector end users	Main production equipment
semi-finished, finished rolled	sheet, profile, plate	building and infrastructure, steel packaging, tools and machinery	BF; BOF; EAF

Table 4: Plant-level Crude Steel Production Capacities (thousand tonnes per annum)

¹Please see our Frequently Asked Questions page for an explanation of the different capacity operating statuses.

Capacity operating status1	Basic oxygen furnace steelmaking capacity	Electric arc furnace steelmaking capacity	Nominal crude steel capacity (total)
mothballed	4300	1200	5500

Table 5: Plant-level Crude Iron Production Capacities (thousand tonnes per annum)

¹Please see our Frequently Asked Questions page for an explanation of the different capacity operating statuses.

Capacity operating status1	Blast furnace capacity	Nominal iron capacity (total)
mothballed	4380	4380

Table 6: Upstream Products Production Capacities (thousand tonnes per annum)

Sinter	Coke	Pellets
2263	821	4200

Table 7: Actual Plant-level Crude Steel Production by Year (thousand tonnes per annum)

Year	BOF production	EAF production	Other/unknown steel production	Total (all routes)
2019	3121	429	–	3550
2020	1667	223	–	1890
2021	1760	240	–	2000
2022	>0	>0	>0	–

Table 8: Actual Plant-level Crude Iron Production by Year (thousand tonnes per annum)

Year	BF production	Total (all routes)
2019	2990	2990
2020	1561	1561
2021	1541	1541
2022	1400	1400
2023	–	–

Unit Details

Table 9: Blast Furnace Details

Unit name	Status	Start date	Current size	Current capacity (ttpa)	Decarbonization technology	Most recent relining
BF 5	mothballed	1976	2210.0 m3	2628	unknown	2014
BF 6	mothballed	2011	1392.0 m3	1752	unknown	–

Table 10: Electric Arc Furnace Details

Unit name	Status	Current capacity (ttpa)	Current size (tonnes)
unknown EAF (1)	mothballed	1200	160.0

Table 11: Electric Arc Furnace Feedstock Details

Unit name	Scrap-based	% scrap	% HBI	% pig iron (unknown if basic/merchant or granulated
unknown EAF (1)	yes	70.00	15.00	15.00

Table 12: Basic Oxygen Furnace Details

Unit name	Status	Current capacity (ttpa)
unknown BOF (1)	mothballed	300
unknown BOF (2)	mothballed	300
unknown BOF (3)	mothballed	300
unknown BOF (4)	mothballed	1700
unknown BOF (5)	mothballed	1700

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of steel power plants, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Iron and Steel Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.

Resources

• Company website
• Wikipedia