Corsa Coal CEO credits Trump as coal industry plans new mines

Corsa Coal CEO George Dethlefsen says President Trump’s pro-coal agenda is already changing the way people see mining--particularly within government. In an interview Tuesday with the FOX Business Network, Dethlefsen said the change "sets the stage for producers like us to develop new mines."

Despite an industry plagued with regulations, and a shift to cheaper renewable energy, Corsa Coal recently opened a new coal mine in Western Pennsylvania, the first mine to open in the state in six years. “President Trump can set the business climate for coal in a positive way," Dethlesfsen said. "He can drive economic growth. He can drive tax and infrastructure spending, tax reform and infrastructure spending. He can loosen the regulation on coal."

Dethlefsen says the quality of the coal, the geographic location to major steel making markets, and the low cost set for assets allows Corsa Coal to make a profit, during a time when most other mining corporations are struggling.

“We had the best financial quarter in our company’s history in the first quarter of this year. We’re going to have another great quarter in the second quarter,” said Dethlefsen. “Prices are at levels we haven’t seen in several years, owing to a very strong economy and economic outlook – stock markets at all-time highs – and also…by a very strong steel market which is the ultimate demand driver for our coal.”

While natural gas and cheaper renewable energy are major competitors to the coal industry, Dethlefsen said they’re not “a replacement in the steel making process for metallurgical coal.”

“Two thirds of what we produce is metallurgical coal, so it’s sold in the steel making industry,” Dethlefsen said. “We’ve got a bit of a protective niche in the met coal space, that we can compete effectively in.”