By late last week, a Sanford Underground Lab crew had removed 13,000 tons of rock to enlarge the Davis Cavern and create the new Transition Cavern in a campus 4,850 feet underground.  The crew of 11, which includes nine former Homestake miners, has been working two 10-hour shifts a day to complete the project.

The rock is being disposed of nearly 2 miles away, in old stopes and drifts 150 feet deeper on the 5,000-foot level. Once the muck is removed from the Davis Cavern, rock bolts will be installed in the lower ribs (walls) of the cavern. Excavation and mucking continues in the Transition Cavern, but that work should be complete by early to mid-September, according to Construction Manager Will McElroy.  The two caverns also will get coats of shotcrete.
The cost of excavating and shotcreting the Davis and Transition caverns will be about $2.8 million.