Hercules Unit Northern Mining, a subsidiary of Altos Hornos de Mexico, applies in this year an investment of USD 55.6 million for the purchase of equipment and machinery for the exploitation of new deposits.

The aim is to ensure compliance with defined operational plan for the area iron, in order to respond to increased demand posed by AHMSA steel and prepare the highest levels of supply will be required to start operating the units within the Project Phoenix.

The investment is for the purchase of equipment such as heavy trucks, loaders, bulldozers, graders, among other machinery designed for mining operations.

To date, 10 trucks have been mainly Caterpillar Model 789C, with a capacity of 180 tonnes, 2 tractors, 2 loaders and other machinery are in full operation.

Implemented as part of a program of rearrangements of operational resources, new equipment has enabled enhance the availability of machinery in the Unit Hercules, Coahuila, La Perla, Chihuahua, and Cerro de Mercado, Durango.

In the course of this year will receive a 994 F loader, a machine DMM3 a boring 4.5 inch diameter, 3 D10T tractors, 2 dozers and a grader 834H, mostly manufactured by Caterpillar.

Hercules Unit, located in the desert of Coahuila, is the leading supplier of ore to the blast furnace fierce AHMSA and the material is sent through a Monclova ferroducto 300 kilometers in length, which in turn captures the ore mined in the Pearl, Chihuahua.

This production is reinforced with iron extracted from Cerro de Mercado Unit, located in the capital of Durango, and small deposits of the states of Colima and Jalisco, which is transported by rail Monclova.