The proposal to convert the Homestake gold mine in Lead, S.D., into a national underground laboratory came within two weeks of the announcement in 2000 that the mine would close. That proposal has been evolving for eight years. Here are some highlights: 

2000

On Sept. 11, 2000, after 124 years of operation, the Homestake Mining Company announced  it would close its underground gold mine in Lead, South Dakota. Within two weeks, Dr. Ken Lande and other physicists who had been involved with an experiment conducted 4,850 feet underground at Homestake suggested that the mine be converted into a national underground laboratory. That proposal came to be known as the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory, or "DUSEL."

 

2002

In 2002 Dr. Ray Davis, who had conducted a neutrino detection experiment at the 4850 Level (4,850 feet underground), won the Nobel Prize for Physics. Dr. Davis put his experiment deep underground to protect it from background cosmic radiation, which makes neutrino detection impossible on the surface of the earth. Dr. Davis discovered that some neutrinos produced in the sun changed type, or "flavor," which meant they had to have mass. This discovery was greeted with skepticism at first, but it was later confirmed by other experiments. The award further confirmed the importance of underground laboratories.

Also that year, Barrick Gold Corporation of Toronto bought the Homestake Mining Company, which included the Homestake gold mine in Lead and other mines around the world. Barrick signed an Agreement in Principle to donate the Homestake Mine to South Dakota -- but only if the National Science Foundation (NSF) endorsed the plan for a DUSEL and if Barrick were to be protected from liability.

2003

In June 2003 Homestake Mining Company turned off the underground pumps and the mine began to slowly fill with water.

On July 1, 2003 Governor Mike Rounds established the Homestake Laboratory Conversion Project to oversee efforts to turn the mine into a DUSEL. Dr. Richard Gowen, president of the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, was named Interim Executive Director.

In November of that year, Homestake Mining Company sealed the Yates and the Ross shafts to prevent damage to the infrastructure caused by fluctuations in temperature and humidity.

2004

On February 11, 2004, the South Dakota Legislature created the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority and committed $14.3 million to the Homestake project.

Although the National Science Foundation had earlier designated Homestake as the preferred site for a DUSEL, the agency requested that proposals be re-submitted under new guidelines.

In August 2004, Governor Rounds appointed Mr. Thomas C. Adam, Mr. Dave Bozied, Ms. Pat Lebrun, Mr. Casey Peterson and Mr. Dave Snyder to the Board of Directors of the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority.

On November 2, after the resignation of Dr. Richard Gowen, Dave Snyder was named Executive Director. Later that month the Governor appointed Mr. Steve Zellmer to fill the board position vacated by Mr. Snyder.

2005

In July, the National Science Foundation named Homestake one of two sites for a Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory. The "Homestake Collaboration" of scientists from universities and research institutions received a $500,000 grant to study the feasibility of the site.

The South Dakota Science and Technology Authority and the Homestake Collaboration proposed creating an interim laboratory at the 4,850 underground -- the same "level" where Dr. Ray Davis had installed his neutrino detector. The 4850 Level would be deep enough for many experiments.

In September Homestake Mining Company agreed to an amendment to the Agreement in Principle to allow the state, in addition to the National Science Foundation, to provide funding for the laboratory.

 

In October, 2005, during a special session called by the Gov. Mike Rounds, the South Dakota Legislature approved $19.9 million to develope an interim laboratory on the 4850 Level at Homestake.

The next month the Homestake Collaboration, led by Principal Investigator Dr. Kevin T. Lesko of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California/Berkeley, solicited Letters of Interest from scientists for experiments at Homestake.

2006

On January 12, 2006, sensors reported that water in the mine had risen to the 6200 Level. The rate of inflow was a few months behind the original predictions.

In February, the Homestake Collaboration held a workshop in Lead on potential experiments and education and outreach at Homestake. The Homestake Program Advisory Committee (PAC) reviewed 60 Letters of Interest.

Barrick Gold Corporation donated the Homestake gold mine to the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority. The underground mine includes shafts to a depth of 8,000 feet and 370 miles of tunnels, called "drifts" in mine parlance. The donation also included 186 surface acres. The donation did NOT include the Open Cut in Lead or waste-rock areas, which Barrick owns and continues to maintain.

In May the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority moved its office from Rapid City to the Administration Building at Homestake in Lead.

 

A live video inspection of the Yates Shaft was successfully conducted by a volunteer crew of current and former Homestake employees and South Dakota Science and Technology staff on June 10. An apparatus with four cameras was lowered into the shaft on a steel cable to the 4850 foot level. The results of the inspection were positive.

 

On June 23, the Homestake Collaboration submitted its Conceptual Design Report (CDR) to the NSF.

On June 26, Gov. Mike Rounds announced a $70 million donation to the project from Mr. T. Denny Sanford, a Sioux Falls businessman and philanthropist. The Sanford gift is designated to help open laboratory space at the 4850 Level, to improve hoists, to build or refurbish other infrastructure and to pump water. The gift includes $20 million for a Sanford Science Education Center at Homestake.

In September, 2006, the National Science Foundation solicited applications for a grant award of up to $15 million to fund development of a detailed design for a DUSEL. Applications were not limited to the two preferred sites.

On November 6, sensors indicated that the water had reached the 5600 Level.

A live video inspection was successfully completed in the Ross Shaft on December 7. Results of this inspection were positive.

On Dec. 21, Gov. Mike Rounds announced a three-phase plan to keep the mine dry at the 4850 Level and to ready the mine for science. Part One called for re-commissioning hoists at the Yates and Ross Shafts and installing exhaust ventilation. Part Two included underground rehabilitation, creating safe access and re-commissioning the existing water pumping system. Part Three would include pumping water and further mine rehabilitation.

2007

On Jan. 9, a Conceptual Design Report was submitted to the NSF by the Homestake Collaboration.

On July 10, Gov. Rounds announced that the National Science Foundation selected the Homestake site to be developed as the proposed Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory ("DUSEL"). The NSF indicated its intention to provide $5 million a year for the next three years to develop a more specific technical design for the laboratory.

The NSF Science Board, Congress and the President must approve the DUSEL project, which would cost an estimated $550 million. Half of that funding would be used to build the lab; half would pay for the initial suite of experiments. 

2008

On March 24, Dr. Jose Alonso,  director of the Sanford Underground Laboratory, hit the button that turned on the first underground pump.