By Paul J. Gough

November 17, 2017 - Corsa Coal expects to grow production of metallurgical coal by more than 50 percent next year as the Canonsburg-based mining company’s expansion continues.

Corsa (TSXV: CSO) made headlines earlier this year with the opening of the Acosta Deep Mine near Somerset, billed as the first coal mine to open since President Trump took office. Corsa expects that it will achieve its production goal of between 30,000 and 35,000 short tons at the Acosta mine by early next year, driven by the beginning of another unit and more shifts. That, along with the beginning of production from other surface mines owned by Corsa in Pennsylvania, factored into the company’s projected increases for 2018.

It expects to produce between 820,000 and 840,000 tons of coal for 2017. It saw prices for metallurgical coal, used in steelmaking, to increase 40 percent in early September and remain 30 percent higher than it was at the end of second quarter.

The company saw sharply higher revenue in the quarter, $80.4 million compared to $24 million in the same three-month period a year ago, thanks to the sales of 44 percent more coal. Corsa swung to a profit of $7.3 million, 6 cents a share, compared to a loss of $2.2 million, 9 cents a share, in the third quarter of 2016.