The Sunrise Dam Gold Mine is located 55 km south of Laverton. It is fully owned by AngloGold Ashanti. In 2007, it accounted for 11% of the companys production. The mine is currently the companys only Australian operation. A second Australian project, the Tropicana Gold Mine, is in development and scheduled to open in 2013.
The gold deposit at Sunrise Dam was discovered in August 1988 and gold mining operations started in 1995, mining ore in an open pit, the Mega Pit, which, in 2008, had reached a depth of 440 metres. In March 1997, the first gold was poured at the mine. In 1999, AngloGold acquired the mine through a takeover of Acacia Resources Ltd, a move that also gained it a 33% stake in the Boddington project, which it sold in early 2009 for $1.5 billion. Acacia, formerly Billiton PLC, was delisted from the Australian Stock Market on 11 January 2000.