Mexican integrated steelmaker Altos Hornos de Mexico (Ahmsa) has restarted operations at its Cerro de Mercado iron ore mine, even after it earlier announced plans to shut down the unit amid labor dispute, the company said Tuesday.
The asset belongs to mining company Minera del Norte, which is a subsidiary of Ahmsa, and is located in the northwest state of Durango.
Durango state government promoted the negotiation process with Ahmsa. The steelmaker and the national mining union signed an agreement to restart operations at Cerro de Mercado.
According to Ahmsa, operations were resumed on July 12.
"Once both sides gave in their initial positions and agreed to make a productive effort to give profitability to that mining unit, the stoppage of activities started last May 22 ended," Ahmsa said in a statement.
The mining unit currently provides up to 8% of the iron ore requirements of Altos Hornos de Mexico, detailed the steelmaker. Previously, Ahmsa detailed the volume provided by the unit is less than 20,000 mt/month of iron concentrate.
