A freight train with five gondola cars packed with iron ore for Mexican steelmaker Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA) derailed today about 30 km from the mill, the company said. However, the mishap will have no impact on the company's production, a company spokesman told SteelOrbis.
“There are parallel train tracks. They will fix it in a couple of hours and it doesn't affect production. Most of the iron ore arrives by rail pipeline. The ore transported by rail is just a complement,” Francisco Orduna told SteelOrbis.com in an email
According to the local press, the railway is owned by the Penoles mining company, one of the largest silver producers in the world.
The mines owned by AHMSA produce close to 4 million tons of iron concentrate per year and the ore is transported through a 295-kilometer railway pipeline.
In the third quarter of 2022, the extraction of iron ore by AHMSA was 377,705 metric tons, 5.9 percent more than in the same period last year. Steel shipments totaled 340.6 million metric tons, 19.0 percent less, compared to the same quarter of 2021.