This is the side of an open pit gold mine. It has been shut down and reclaimed. The ore they mined was oxide ore and was processed by heap leaching. Heap leaching works best with oxide ores. The high grade sulfide ore was left in the pit wall as it could not be mined and recovered with their heap leaching process. Had they tried to process and recover this ore with their recovery process, it would have not been economic at gold prices at that time. Today with gold over $1,100 a troy ounce, this ore would probably be profitable if enough tonnage could be developed. Many times old mines can be brought back into production when the metal prices and the political climate allows private industry to produce and make a return on their investment.