Golden Sunlight
The Golden Sunlight mine is located in Jefferson County in southwestern Montana, 55 kilometres east of Butte and eight kilometres northeast of Whitehall. The property lies on the eastern flank of a fault-bounded mountain range known as Bull Mountain.
Mining is by conventional open-pit methods. The mine is currently in an extended period of waste stripping related to an expansion which extends the mine life to 2015 and adds approximately 400,000 additional ounces. Golden Sunlight’s ore treatment plant is based on conventional carbon-in-pulp technology, with the addition of a Sand Tailing Retreatment (STR) gold recovery plant to recover gold that would otherwise be lost to tailing.
In 2008, Golden Sunlight produced 120,000 ounces of gold at a total cash cost of $392 per ounce1. Proven and probable mineral reserves as of December 31, 2008 are estimated at 540,000 ounces of gold2.