The Kumtor gold mine is located in the Jeti-Ögüz District of the Issyk-Kul Region in the Kyrgyz Republic. At over above sea level, it is a high-altitude mine, among the Lysyi and Davidov glaciers in the Tian Shan mountains. It is a conventional open-pit mine with an on-site mill where doré bars are produced from ore that is ground, dissolved into a pyrite flotation, sent through a carbon in leach system and collected by electrowinning. The mine opened in 1997 and since ownership was transferred to Centerra in 2002, the mine has produced approximately 500,000 ounces of gold per year, except for 2012 due to a pit wall collapse (from excessive amounts of ice following winter storms) which closed operations for half the year. In addition to the numerous accidents that occurred prior to Centerra, the mine has been the subject to numerous controversies, including health and safety concerns, impacts on the natural environment from excavating glacial material and disposal of waste, and political debate due to its prominence in the Kyrgyz Republic.