The Golden Sunlight Mine in Whitehall is seeking approval to expand its open pit operations, which should extend the life of the mine by five years.

It's welcome news to the gold mine's 140 employees, as well as to Jefferson County Commissioners. Golden Sunlight, which was acquired by the international gold mining giant Barrick Corp. in 2006, provides average salaries of around $50,000 and pays about $700,000 annually in Jefferson County property taxes.

Without the expansion, mining operations were slated to end this fall.

"What this means to Jefferson County is that individual property taxes will not go up, because Golden Sunlight is among the top three taxpayers in the county," Commissioners Tom Lythgoe said. "They have a huge impact not only to the county, but also to the local community of Whitehall.

"Those are pretty good paying jobs and Golden Sunlight has been a really good neighbor, contributing a lot of resources to the local economy and to schools."

Tim Dimock, the mine's general manager, said they still need financial approval from corporate headquarters and regulatory approval from the state and federal governments before moving forward, but he's cautiously optimistic that the expansion will take place this year.

"A lot of what we are proposing to do already has been permitted," Dimock said. "We expect that during the first quarter of this year, we'll get the approvals we need, but we don't have either yet."

Herb Rolfes, operating permit section supervisor for the state Department of Environmental Quality, said this expansion was considered as part of a 1998 environmental impact statement, so little additional assessment is needed, and the public won't have an opportunity to comment on the proposal.

"It was basically reviewed in the EIS of 1998, so in a sense this is just a minor revision to their permit," Rolfes said. "They decided not to expand it that much (in 1998) because the price of gold went down and it wasn't economical."

Gold prices reached a 28-year high Thursday, at $868 per ounce. When the EIS was completed, gold was valued at around $300 per ounce.

The newest plan would increase the amount of waste rock from the mine by 53 million tons; 375 million tons already have been extracted. An additional 8 million tons of ore would be removed; 55 million tons have been taken since Golden Sunlight was first permitted in 1975. The expansion would generate 8 million tons of tailings, in addition to the 57 million tons already produced.

The mine's pit is already 2,000 feet deep, and the expansion would increase the depth of the pit by 125 feet. The pit covers about 218 acres, and is about three-quarters of a mile wide at the top and narrows toward the bottom. The footprint of the mine operation covers about 3,000 acres.

Rolfes noted that all of the proposed disturbances with the mine pit expansion, waste rock dumps and tailing impoundment would be located within the existing permit and disturbance area.

Golden Sunlight has caused some controversy recently over the pit closure plans, with five environmental groups filing a lawsuit late last year. The groups want Golden Sunlight to put about 47 million tons of waste rock back into the pit, saying Montana's Constitution requires that all lands disturbed by the taking of natural resources be reclaimed.

However, both the DEQ and Bureau of Land Management, as well as mine officials, say it's environmentally safer to keep the rocks out of the pit so they can continue to pump and treat acidic water in the pit.

Jeff Barber, a spokesman for the Montana Environmental Information Center -- one of the groups filing the lawsuit -- said the expansion plans don't have any bearing on the lawsuit.

Anyone wanting to look at the expansion plans can see a copy at the DEQ office at 1520 East 6th Ave. in Helena, or they can call Rolfes at 444-3841.

Reporter Eve Byron: 447-4076 or eve.byron@helenair.com