AHMSA, Minosa Publish Final Labor Credit List Ahead of Auction

Mexico's Second District Court in Commercial Bankruptcy Matters published the final labor credit list for Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA) and Minera del Norte (Minosa), quantifying roughly US$700 million owed to over 14,000 workers ahead of a September 25, 2026 asset auction. The disclosure completes a documentation requirement tied to the court's US$1.127 billion opening bid and June 2026 sale terms, while a reactivated arrest order against former chairman Alonso Ancira introduces renewed risk to the auction timeline. The outcome will determine creditor recovery and the pace of restoring roughly 4Mt of annual steel capacity to Mexico's construction, automotive and infrastructure supply chains.

Mexico's bankruptcy trustee overseeing the liquidation of Altos Hornos de México (AHMSA) and its mining unit Minera del Norte (Minosa) has released the definitive list of recognized labor credits, giving thousands of former workers a formal accounting of what they are owed as the companies head toward a court-ordered auction. 

The list is posted on the companies' website and on the Federal Institute of Bankruptcy Specialists (Ifecom) portal, and is being displayed at Federal Public Defense offices in Mexico City and in the Coahuila, Zacatecas, Chihuahua and Durango delegations.

Judge Ruth Haggi Huerta García, who presides over the Second District Court in Commercial Bankruptcy Matters, issued the order following a July 22 ruling that set the calculation methodology for preferred and non-preferred labor claims. Workers now have ten business days to review and contest the figures, a window that closes Aug. 28. 

The judge also renewed an earlier warning against circulating unofficial information about the case, saying it risked generating partial or misleading interpretations that could undermine confidence in the process.

A liability that dwarfs typical bankruptcy proceedings

The scale of what's being calculated is unusual even by the standards of large industrial bankruptcies. Estimates place the outstanding labor liability tied to AHMSA and Minosa at roughly US$700 million, a debt that has accumulated since the Monclova-based steelmaker halted operations in November 2023 amid a liquidity collapse. 

More than 14,000 workers across both companies have gone without full wage and severance payments for close to three years, and reporting from the region has tied dozens of deaths among former employees to the prolonged wait for settlement.

That backdrop explains why the court has moved carefully. Mexico's bankruptcy framework, the Ley de Concursos Mercantiles, allows judges to steer distressed companies toward a single consolidated sale rather than a piecemeal liquidation, precisely to preserve enough value to cover claims like these while keeping the underlying business intact for a future buyer.

The credit list lands as the auction calendar firms up

The publication of the labor credit list is not an isolated procedural step. It follows a July 28 order in which the same court approved a formal auction calendar and set a tentative date of Sept. 25, 2026 for the sale of AHMSA and Minosa as a combined productive unit, with the bidding session slated to take place at the Federal Judiciary's headquarters auditorium in Mexico City, according to Mexico Business News. 

That timeline builds on a June 2 ruling that fixed the opening bid at US$1.127 billion and gave the trustee, Víctor Aguilera, three legal days to finalize labor and creditor documentation, the same documentation now being made public in the form of this credit list.

The road to a firm auction date has been anything but linear. A first attempt at a sale was declared void in February 2026 after none of the interested parties met the court's qualification requirements, and the process was pushed back again in June when the court granted a second ten-business-day extension for the trustee to complete the bid terms. Business leaders in Coahuila have acknowledged that the repeated delays follow legal requirements meant to protect all parties involved, even as they weigh on a regional economy still absorbing the shock of AHMSA's shutdown.

Legal risk still looms over the timeline

The credit list also arrives amid renewed legal turbulence tied to AHMSA's former chairman. An arrest order against Alonso Ancira has been reactivated over an alleged breach of a reparation agreement linked to the sale of Agronitrogenados to PEMES, a case that has resurfaced fears among former employees that criminal proceedings could once again push back the sale of the productive unit.

For a workforce that has already absorbed multiple auction delays since the bankruptcy filing, any further disruption carries direct financial consequences: the longer the sale is deferred, the longer the roughly 4 million tons of annual steel production capacity taken offline since 2023 stays out of Mexico's construction, automotive and infrastructure supply chains, a gap that has already pushed those sectors toward costlier imports.

For now, the trustee's office says it remains committed to advancing the sale "with strict adherence to legality," prioritizing speed and the best possible terms for disposing of the AHMSA-Minosa productive unit, a commitment that will be tested twice over the coming weeks, first when the labor credit review period closes on Aug. 28, and again when bidders are expected to formalize their positions ahead of the Sept.25 auction.