Due to the advent of new automakers to Mexico, Minera Autlan, an industrial metals and ferroalloys producer, will invest US$150 million next year to produce the highest quality minerals and to carry out exploration projects.
In an interview during the Third Congress of Steel Industry, organized by the National Chamber of Iron and Steel Industry (CANACERO), José Antonio Rivero Larrea, president of the Board of Directors of Grupo Ferrominero (GFM )--Autlán's controlling entity--explained that these projects aim to replace imports of these inputs.
He said that the upcoming openings of new facilities from Ternium and Deacero encourage expectations of the mining firm, which produces 1 million tons of industrial minerals each year.
"I think we will see a better demand for the fourth quarter and 2014," he said. "We believe it will grow the Mexican steel industry and we are going hand in hand with them."
Rivero said that by no later than October, the company will complete an ambitious US$40 million investment in an open pit mine. However, he acknowledged that these plans would be affected by the recent fiscal reform proposal by the Mexican government to collect charges from the mining companies of 7.5 percent of operating profit.
He suggested that this initiative gives differential treatment between companies producing industrial minerals and precious minerals. "We will have to see how they want to apply the reform," he said. "But it will hurt us greatly because we will have to increase the price along the supply chain."
Additionally, in the case of manganese, countries like Brazil, Ghana, Gabon and South Africa already offer competitive advantages against Mexico, Rivero said.