
Mexican miner Minosa under bankruptcy protection

Minera del Norte (Minosa), a subsidiary of steelmaker Alto Hornos de México (Ahmsa), has gone into bankruptcy protection, but the firm's iron ore and coal mining operations are continuing normally.
The bankruptcy process, equivalent to Chapter 11 in the US, “means there is a legal suspension of payments to third parties for previous company obligations and guarantees may not be executed for non-payment," Ahmsa said in a statement sent to the Mexican stock exchange (BMV).
"This procedure was originally requested as a result of the unilateral and improper cancellation of the contracts for the supply of thermal coal to Comisión Federal de Electricidad [CFE], a situation that substantially affected Minosa's operations," the statement reads.
The company stressed that this judicial decision "does not affect Altos Hornos de México in any way."
"As the statement says, Minosa fell into a financial crisis since CFE canceled the thermal coal purchase contracts that backed its loans. But iron ore and metallurgical coal operations continue normally while the financial aspect is restructured," an Ahmsa spokesperson told BNamericas.
The company representative added that power plants owned by state-owned utility CFE in Nava, Coahuila state, are "practically halted" because they use coal supplied by Minosa through its Micare unit. "Now, they [the CFE] are supplying them with some metallurgical coal, but it doesn't work well, damaging the equipment."
FROM BAD TO WORSE
In December, local media reported that Ahmsa had accused CFE of acting "in bad faith" after two of its plants in Monclova, Coahuila state, experienced power cuts over alleged unpaid electricity bills, pointing out that 17,000 jobs depended on these two facilities.
"The available financial resources were allocated to comply in a timely manner with the [second] US$54mn payment to [state oil company] Pemex for the reparation agreement which the company was forced into. Therefore, deferred payment formulas were proposed to CFE to cover the full payment of the bill," Luis Zamudio, general director of Ahmsa and subsidiaries, said in a separate statement.
Ahmsa had already made a first payment of US$50mn in November 2021 as part of the reparation deal, under which the steelmaker was obliged to pay US$216mn that Pemex was estimated to have paid in excess for the steelmaker's fertilizer subsidiary Agronitrogenados in 2014.
However, CFE retorted in a statement of its own that Ahmsa had requested, in a letter signed by Luis Zamudio, "that the due dates of the invoices and payments for electricity consumption, for October and November 2022, be deferred for payment in February and March 2023."
"In addition to not paying off their debt, they want to consume electricity for the next six months without paying it, at the cost of CFE and Mexicans," the utility said.
Minosa is responsible for several mining operations: Micare, which produces around 7Mt/y of coal; Mimosa, which has output of approximately 4Mt/y of coal; iron concentrate producer Cerro del Mercado (Cemesa); and miner Compañía Real del Monte y Pachuca, which also operates the Loreto gold and silver treatment plant.
Subscribe to the most trusted business intelligence platform in Latin America. Let us show you our solutions for Suppliers, Contractors, Operators, Government, Legal, Financial and Insurance.
News in: Electric Power (Mexico)

Tesla’s Gigafactory in Monterrey will produce its next-gen EV
CEO Elon Musk did not give details about the investment, construction, or start-up schedule, but a Mexican official said the plant carries a US$5bn...

ERM acquires Latin American sustainable finance and ESG consultancy, NINT
ERM, the world's largest sustainability consultancy, has acquired NINT, a Latin America-based consulting firm that provides advisory services on En...
Subscribe to Latin America’s most trusted business intelligence platform.
Other projects in: Electric Power (Mexico)
Get critical information about thousands of Electric Power projects in Latin America: what stages they're in, capex, related companies, contacts and more.
- Project: Puerto Peñasco solar plant
- Current stage:
- Updated:
2 weeks ago
- Project: Guadalupe wind farm (PEG)
- Current stage:
- Updated:
2 weeks ago
- Project: Sonora - Baja California Transmission Line
- Current stage:
- Updated:
2 weeks ago
- Project: El Mayo solar photovoltaic plant
- Current stage:
- Updated:
2 weeks ago
- Project: Third Altamira cogeneration plant
- Current stage:
- Updated:
2 weeks ago
- Project: Rancho del Norte wind farm
- Current stage:
- Updated:
2 weeks ago
- Project: Río Verde solar park
- Current stage:
- Updated:
2 weeks ago
- Project: Tamazunchale Combined Cycle Plant Expansion (El Clérigo)
- Current stage:
- Updated:
3 weeks ago
- Project: Calera solar plant
- Current stage:
- Updated:
3 weeks ago
- Project: Tampico Solar 1 Project
- Current stage:
- Updated:
3 weeks ago
Other companies in: Electric Power (Mexico)
Get critical information about thousands of Electric Power companies in Latin America: their projects, contacts, shareholders, related news and more.
- Company: Grupo Carso S.A.B. de C.V.  (Grupo Carso)
-
Grupo Carso is a Mexican industrial conglomerate made up of a diversified group of companies in four business sectors: industrial, infrastructure, retail and energy, with activi...
- Company: Sisttemex S.A. de C.V.
- Company: Transportes Muciño S.A. de C.V.
- Company: SeisImagen Ingeniería S.A. de C.V.
- Company: Illuminare & Solar S.A. de C.V.
- Company: APR grúas y logística
- Company: Hi-Tec Construccion S.A. de C.V.