MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s largest integrated steelmaker, Altos Hornos de México SAB de CV (Ahmsa), will begin production at its new 1-million-tonne-per-year plate line by the end of March.

The plate line is part of the company’s Fénix steel expansion project, which also includes a 1.5-million-tonne-per-year blast furnace, a 1.2-million-tonne-per-year electric-arc furnace and a 1.2-million-tonne-per-year slab caster.

Production at the new plate line will begin once the probationary period ends this month, Ahmsa said in a report filed with Mexico’s stock exchange last week.

The expansion project, which will increase the Monclova-based company’s crude steel capacity to 4.75 million tonnes per year, has entered its final stage of construction, according to the company.

The electric-arc furnace component of the project is 90 percent completed and will start operations this year, Ahmsa said. Fénix, which is expected to cost a total of $1.5 billion, will allow the steelmaker to increase both capacity and the range of steels available to supply new markets, Ahmsa added.

The company invested $1.3 billion in Fénix before Dec. 31 and it has committed a further $83 million in contracts for the project, according to the report. The Fénix project will create more than 1,500 jobs, the company said.

A version of this article was first published by AMM sister publication Steel First.