Mexico’s Mining Industry

38 Negocios ProMéxico Negocios ProMéxico 39
Salt:
mexiCo’s
WhiTe Gold
exportaDora De Sal,
a coMpany unDer
both publIc anD
prIVate ownerShIp,
haS poSItIoneD
MexIco aMong Major
Salt proDucerS
globally.
____
by mariana morales
photos archive
Although salt is a product of
common use, we rarely think
about where it comes from
and its range of applications.
Salt has over 14,000 known uses and is
present in virtually all aspects of everyday
life. For instance, few people know
that the largest use of salt is in the chemical
industry, followed by highway deicing
and human consumption.
Worldwide production of salt stands
at about 300 million tons a year and
China is the largest producer globally,
with annual output of 70 million tons,
followed by the US, with a production of
45 million tons per year.
Mexico operates the world’s largest open
salt works, Exportadora de Sal (ESSA), a
Mexican company created in 1954 to produce
and export marine salt.
Thanks to ESSA, Mexico has positioned
itself as the tenth largest salt producer glob-
ally. It is also the largest in Latin America,
according to data from the company and
the Mexican Association of Salt Industry
(AMISAC).
ESSA has an installed annual production
capacity of 7.5 million tons of salt, of
which 70,000 are table salt. At the end of
2011, the Mexican company had a 26%
share of the international salt market, its
main market being the Pacific basin, where
its share reached 35%.
The countries and regions to which ESSA
makes most of its exports are Japan, the US,
Canada, Korea, Taiwan and Central America.
In 2011, ESSA achieved a historic volume
of sales –7.6 million tons– including exports
of 1 million tons to China and Taiwan. In
terms of production units, the company remained
the main supplier of salt to Japan,
with a market share of 43%.
ESSA is a majority state-owned company,
affiliated to the Ministry of Economy (SE)
through the Department of Mining. It is located
in the town of Guerrero Negro, in the
Mulegé municipality of Baja California Sur,
730 kilometers from the city of Tijuana,
Baja California. The Mexican government
holds 51% of the shares in the company,
through the Mining Development Trust
(FIFOMI), while the Japanese Mitsubishi
Corporation has owned 49% of the share
capital since November 1976.
Currently, the company has about
1,200 employees, including workers, technicians
and managers, and pays mining
rights on four concessions. Through various
channels, ESSA’s annual contributions
to the Mexican Treasury average
12.5 million usd per year.
In recent years, ESSA has recorded an
average positive balance of 65 million usd a
year. At the close of 2011, net sales totaled
nearly 132 million usd, with a net profit of
more than 18 million usd.
From 2006 to 2011 the company’s
annual production increased from 6.6
million tons to 7.3 million, with a record
high of 7.4 million tons recorded in 2008.
Most of the production is for the chemical
industry (75%), followed by highway
deicing (14%), general purpose (5%) and
water treatment (5%).
Furthermore, the ESSA table salt plant
produces different types of the mineral for
human consumption, such as high purity
and ground salts, which are packed in different
presentations for the end consumer
and the food processing industries.
High purity salt is produced from concentrated
brines using a process patented
by the company’s research and development
department.
ESSA has a system that is unique in the
global salt industry, designed to suit the
company’s natural environment. It is a process
that allows the return of residual brine
to the ocean without having an impact on
the environment.
In addition, the company generates the
electricity it consumes and has installed a
fleet of tugs and barges, urban infrastructure
in Guerrero Negro and Isla de Cedros,
and a treatment plant for drinking water.
Between 2006 and 2012, ESSA reduced
its consumption of diesel by 3.65%, from
1.37 liters to 1.32 liters per ton moved.
The offices and workshops of ESSA, and
the Guerrero Negro community in general,
have reduced power consumption by
12.9%, from 7.1 to 6.2 million kWh per year.
Similarly, in Guerrero Negro freshwater
consumption has been reduced by 11.3%,
from 318 to 282 liters per person per day.
This represents estimated daily savings of
9.072 cubic meters, equivalent to 3,311 cubic
meters per year –an important effort to
preserve the resource in an extremely arid
zone like the Vizcaíno Desert.
The plant’s Integrated Management
System is certified ISO 9001:2008 with
regard to quality and ISO 14001:2004 in
relation to environmental conservation.
In the last five years, ESSA has implemented
a number of actions to improve its
financial and logistics processes, as well
as its operations with a robust technology
platform. As a first step, the company
successfully implemented a SAP ERP system
as the basis for transactions, thereby
automating operations and enabling
an integrated and reliable system. It has
also automated HR and payroll processes,
together with quality, ecology and safety,
among others.
Besides increasing its production of
salt, ESSA has also improved its production
processes, specifically with regard to
the physical and chemical quality of the
salt, increasing by 7% the number of grains
larger than 1/4 inch (reference size), from
35% to 42% of the salt produced. That enables
better and more efficient washing and
draining of the salt, resulting in drier and
purer shipments.
Moreover, developments were made in
the washing plant facilities to take advantage
of the improved quality. With this new
infrastructure and equipment, a 50% reduction
in losses was achieved due to salt
dissolving in the washing process, increasing
production capacity by 800,000 tons.
In that way, ESSA is ensuring that salt
remains a profitable business for Mexico
and that it remains one of the leading global
producers of this white gold. n
www.essa.com.mx