MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s Altos Hornos de Mexico SAB de CV (Ahmsa), the country’s biggest integrated steelmaker, is investing $31.8 million to construct a new power plant in the northern state of Coahuila.

The plant, Monclova-based Ahmsa’s seventh, is being built "next to the newly installed substation as part of the company’s Fénix steel expansion project," the steelmaker said this week.

The power plant will use natural gas as fuel to generate 40 megawatts of power, which will be used to supply growing demand from the steel works.

Construction kicked off in January and is about 18 percent complete, Ahmsa said. Commissioning is scheduled for the end of 2013, the company added.

Ahmsa earlier this month said it intends to begin production on its new 1-million-tonne-per-year plate line by the end of March (amm.com, March 5). The line also is part of its Fénix expansion, 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.

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