Mexican miner Minera del Norte (Minosa), a subsidiary of integrated steelmaker Altos Hornos de Mexico (Ahmsa), has initiated operations at two new iron ore mines near its Hercules mine, the company said Thursday.
The mines, named La Negra and H14, have the capacity to generate 2 million mt of iron ore/year. Located on both sides of the border between Coahuila and Chihuahua, La Negra is 60 km from the 3.5 million mt/year Hercules mine, while H14 is 3.5 km.
The mines "will reinforce the supply of iron concentrate that is sent to the furnaces of Ahmsa in Monclova," the company said in a statement.
Minosa's ore, after extraction, is put through grinding and concentration processes, and then mixed with water and sent to Ahmsa's steelmaking conglomerate in Monclova through a 295-km pipeline.
