By Anya Litvak

June 2, 2017 - Maybe President Donald Trump will be at the cookout at Jennerstown Speedway Complex on June 8.

“A big opening of a brand, new mine,” the president said as he announced Thursday that the U.S. would pull out of the Paris climate pact.

“It's unheard of. For many, many years that hasn't happened. They asked me if I'd go. I'm going to try.”

The new mine is Acosta, an underground facility in Somerset County that will be taking advantage of the recent bright spot for metallurgical coal — the kind used in steel making.

Run by Canonsburg-based Corsa Coal Corp., the mine promises to add between 70 and 100 full-time jobs to the region.

Met coal, which is a small portion of all coal production in the U.S., has seen its price recover nicely over the past year.

While thermal coal from this region, which is burned in power plants, is selling for around $45 a short ton, met coal is now fetching at least three times as much.

Some of the optimism in the met coal industry recently can be seen in Corsa’s latest investor presentation, which ticks off cuts in China’s met coal capacity, growth in global steel demand, and a recent cyclone in Australia as good omens for American suppliers.

This means that for met coal, what happens in the rest of the world is as important — if not more — so than what happens in the U.S.

Last year, Corsa sold half of its coal to domestic steel makers and the other half abroad. But in 2017, with the opening of Acosta, it projects that 85 percent of its output will be shipped overseas.