In the News

• Homestake shaft surveyed, water level measured

  04-04-08 Sanford Underground Laboratory at Homestake
  LEAD -- Video surveillance of the Ross shaft at the Sanford Underground Laboratory at Homestake showed the exact water level in the mine... [more]
  
  

• First Homestake mine water pumped

  03-14-08 Sanford Underground Laboratory at Homestake
  LEAD - With the push of a button, mining technicians and engineers took a big step Friday morning toward converting the Homestake gold mine into an underground laboratory... [more]
  
  

• Barrick Receives Public Private Partnership Award

  02-25-08 Office of the Governor
  PIERRE, S.D. - The National Governors Association (NGA) has selected Barrick Gold of North America, Inc. as a recipient of the Public Private Partnership... [more]
  
  

• Berkeley Engineer in Charge of DUSEL Design

  02-22-08 Black Hills Pioneer
  LEAD When Dr. Kevin Lesko and members of the Homestake Collaboration wanted to find someone to design what could be the deepest underground laboratory in the country, they went straight to one of the best engineers... [more]
  
  

• Bill Harlan named as information officer at Sanford Underground Laboratory at Homestake

  02-19-08 South Dakota Science and Technology Authority
  A South Dakota journalist who once worked at the Homestake gold mine in Lead, S.D., is returning to the mine in a new role... [more]
  
  

• Sanford lab hosts disaster relief training

  02-08-08 Black Hills Pioneer
  LEAD Emergency response personnel from all over the Northern Hills, along with the S.D. National Guard 82nd Civil Support Team (Weapons of Mass Destruction) gathered at the Sanford Lab at Homestake for disaster relief training... [more]
  
  

• Prof. 'shedding light on dark matter'

  02-04-08 The Brown Daily Herald
  Richard Gaitskell, associate professor of physics, is hunting dark matter 4,850 feet underground.
  Hunting dark matter is not as easy as game hunting though, because the elusive particles cannot be detected by telescopes, satellites, radios or other... [more]
  
  

• Highway engineer gets Sanford Lab job - Geologist will help convert Homestake into laboratory

  01-08-08 Rapid City Journal
  Physicists get the glory in underground science, but in 2008, a soft-spoken Rapid City geologist will play a major role in converting the Homestake gold mine... [more]
  
  

• Sanford's first $15 million arrives at Homestake

  01-04-08 Rapid City Journal
  The South Dakota Science and Technology Authority has received $15 million from philanthropist T. Denny Sanford -- the first of three installments of a $70 million... [more]
  
  

• Homestake experiment seeks to detect dark matter

  12-26-07 Rapid City Journal
  A small cavern deep underground in the Homestake gold mine at Lead could be a site where physicists once again win a Nobel Prize... [more]
  
  

• Alonso working to keep experimenters happy

  12-24-07 Black Hills Pioneer
  As the S.D. Science and Technology Authority works around the clock to install pumps to dewater the former gold mine, Alonso said scientists who are planning experiments at the... [more]
  
  

• Berkeley bullish on lab

  12-20-07 Black Hills Pioneer
  LEAD - Members of the S.D. Science and Technology Authority board came away from a meeting at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory feeling very confident in the level of... [more]
  
  

• Berkeley Lab, South Dakota Contingent Map DUSEL's Future

  12-17-07 Berkeley Lab Communications Dept.
  Berkeley Lab hosted a group of South Dakota officials and congressional staffers Dec. 6-7 to discuss a roadmap for the next phase of the Deep Underground Science and Engineering... [more]
  
  

• Jose Alonso, director, Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory, Homestake, South Dakota

  12-05-07 Nature Magazine
  Richard Myers leaves Stanford genome centre for Huntsville.
  When a family friend gave then high-school student Jose Alonso a tour of the particle accelerators at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in Berkeley, California, Alonso knew... [more]
  
  

• Highway engineer gets Sanford Lab job

  11-21-07 Rapid City Journal
  RAPID CITY -- State highway regional engineer Todd Seaman of Rapid City has been hired to manage contracts for the Sanford Underground Science and Engineering... [more]
  
  

• Science board descends into Homestake

  11-17-07 Rapid City Journal
  LEAD - Board members of the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority descended 1,400 feet into the Homestake gold mine Friday afternoon to inspect progress toward re-opening the mine for use as... [more]
  
  

• Dave Snyder to resign from science authority

  11-17-07 Rapid City Journal
  LEAD - A man who has guided South Dakota's efforts to convert the Homestake gold mine in Lead into a national underground laboratory announced Friday he will... [more]
  
  

• Hopes high national lab will be boon to economy

  11-04-07 Associated Press
  LEAD - Mark Merchen hopes the proposed construction of a national underground science laboratory in a closed Black Hills gold mine will eventually trigger the kind of economic growth the carving of Mount Rushmore... [more]
  
  

• Scientists taking next DUSEL step

  11-03-07 Rapid City Journal
  About 200 scientists are in Washington this weekend to discuss the next steps toward converting the Homestake gold mine into a national underground laboratory, and state officials were there to... [more]
  
  

• Water Level Confirmed at Homestake

  11-02-07 Black Hills Pioneer
  LEAD - Video inspection of the Ross Shaft of the Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (SUSEL) at Homestake this week confirmed that the accumulated water in the mine is at... [more]
  
  

• New Lab Chief: 'I'm thrilled'

  10-24-07 Black Hills Pioneer
  LEAD - The man who will be charged with developing the Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory is no stranger to underground labs, or the experiments that are... [more]
  
  

• Director hired at Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory at Homestake

  10-16-07 South Dakota Science and Technology Authority
  LEAD, SD - Dr. Jose Alonso has been hired as Laboratory Director for the Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (SUSEL) at Homestake, announced Dave... [more]
  
  

• Washington State Congressman, Herseth Sandlin tour SUSEL

  10-09-07 Black Hills Pioneer
  LEAD - Washington Rep. Norm Dicks knows a little about the history of the Hearst family and the Homestake Mine, and yesterday Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin hosted him at the Sanford Underground... [more]
  
  

• Johnson in Rapid City discussing Homestake lab and Tech research

  10-09-07 Rapid City Journal
  RAPID CITY -- Sen. Tim Johnson discussed research projects Monday and fielded question from reporters in Rapid City... [more]
  
  

• Authority to re-open Yates shaft

  10-05-07 Black Hills Pioneer
  LEAD - Members of the S.D. Science and Technology Authority will move forward with re-opening the Yates Shaft of the former Homestake Mine, board members decided... [more]
  
  

• S.D. Science and Technology Authority plans for new hires

  09-27-07 Black Hills Pioneer
  Members of the S.D. Science and Technology Authority recently put out job postings for a director of environment, health and safety, director of projects, director of human... [more]
  
  

• NSF selects Homestake for deep lab site

  09-18-07 CERN Courier
  The US National Science Foundation (NSF) has selected a proposal to produce a technical design for a deep underground science and engineering laboratory (DUSEL) at the former Homestake gold mine near... [more]
  
  

• Sanford Underground Lab will see federal dollars for research

  09-14-07 Black Hills Pioneer
  NORTHERN HILLS - Up to $15 million in NSF funding promised to develop the final design for a federal underground laboratory only scratches the surface for... [more]
  
  

• National Science Foundation Principal Predicts Homestake Prominence

  09-14-07 Rapid City Journal
  With the impending development of a deep underground science and engineering laboratory in the abandoned Homestake gold mine, South Dakota is on the edge of international prominence... [more]
  
  

• NSF agrees to fund Homestake lab for three years

  09-13-07 KNBN-TV
  Lead's Homestake Mine was chosen in July as the site for scientific research and experimentation of a very particular piece of matter. Now the project has funding and plans... [more]
  
  

• Homestake: What's Next?

  09-13-07 KELO Land TV
  The decision is made. But the competition isn't over.
  
  National Science Foundation Assistant Director Dr. Tony Chan says the Sanford Lab at Homestake will now compete against other... [more]
  
  

• NSF officials come to Black Hills

  09-13-07 Black Hills FOX News
  The Homestake Mine is already the pick of the National Science Foundation as the site for a national underground laboratory. Now, the push is on to fund the lab... Representatives of the N-S-F... [more]
  
  

• USD Works With Mine

  08-30-07 Rapid City Journal
  The South Dakota Science and Technology Authority has approved spending $65 million to start constructing an underground laboratory at the Homestake gold mine in... [more]
  
  

• USD Works With Mine

  07-18-07 Yankton Daily
  VERMILLION -- The latest project for a team of University of South Dakota researchers is a gold mine -- literally.
  
  The USD team is working to help develop the former Homestake Gold Mine at Lead, which was recently selected by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as home of the Deep Underground Science and Engineering... [more]
  
  

• Homestake selected as DUSEL by National Science Foundation

  07-11-07 Rapid City Journal
  LEAD -- The closed Homestake gold mine in Lead got new life Tuesday as the preferred site for a national underground science laboratory.
  
  "We won!" Gov. Mike Rounds told several hundred cheering lab supporters in Lead on Tuesday... [more]
  
  

• Homestake Strikes Gold Again

  07-10-07 Research News
  BERKELEY, CA -The National Science Foundation (NSF) has chosen Homestake, a former gold mine in the Black Hills, near Lead, South Dakota, as the site for a multipurpose deep underground science and... [more]
  
  

• Team Selected for the Proposed Design of the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory

  07-10-07 NSF.gov
  The National Science Foundation (NSF) today announced selection of a University of California-Berkeley proposal to produce a technical design for a Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory... [more]
  
  

• Homestake selected as DUSEL by National Science Foundation

  07-10-07 Office of the Governor
  PIERRE, S.D. - Gov. Mike Rounds announced today that the National Science Foundation (NSF) has selected the former Homestake mine in Lead as the site to be developed as the proposed Deep Underground... [more]
  
  

• Awaiting NSF decision, state gets jump on Homestake

  06-29-07 Rapid City Journal
  LEAD -- Technicians are poised to re-enter the Homestake gold mine, but so far the National Science Foundation has not announced whether the mine will be the preferred site for a national... [more]
  
  

• Ross hoist ready to lower workers into Homestake

  06-18-07 Pioneer staff report
  "According to the inspectors, who travel around the world certifying hoists, everything looked good. In fact, they were very complimentary about the well-maintained... [more]
  
  

• SDSU physicist wants to study effects of radiation on cells

  05-25-07 Black Hills Pioneer, Wendy Pitlick
  LEAD - How does low-level radiation actually affect cellular behavior? Dr. Robert McTaggart, a physicist from South Dakota State University wants to know. ... [more]
  
  

• Underground contract for Homestake a big step for mine

  05-22-07 Black Hills Pioneer, Wendy Pitlick
  LEAD - Members of the S.D. Science and Technology Authority celebrated a milestone Monday morning when they took the next steps toward dewatering the Homestake Mine and opening it up for inspection... [more]
  
  

• Contract awarded to reopen Homestake

  05-21-07 Rapid City Journal, Bill Harlan
  LEAD -- A Canadian company has been awarded a $4.8 million contract to reopen the Homestake gold mine in Lead as an underground laboratory - that is, if the National... [more]
  
  

• Scientist sets out to prove neutrinos have mass, antiparticle

  04-23-07 Black Hills Pioneer, Wendy Pitlick
  LEAD - Many experiments proposed for the deep underground science and engineering laboratory are designed for scientists to learn about the properties of... [more]
  
  

• Uranium, thorium neutrino research could determine Earth's age, energy production

  03-23-07 Black Hills Pioneer, Wendy Pitlick
  LEAD - Neutrino detectors at the 4,850-foot level of the Homestake Mine could help scientists understand the total energy produced in the earth's interior as well as the history of... [more]
  
  

• More Equipment Operating at Homestake

  03-23-07 Black Hills Pioneer, Wendy Pitlick
  LEAD, S.D., - South Dakota Science and Technology Authority Executive Director Dave Snyder announced today that the ore hoist at the Ross shaft has been restarted and was operated on Thursday morning, March 22, at... [more]
  
  

• Where did all the anti-matter go? One physicist seeks answers in Homestake

  03-23-07 State News Web, Dave Snyder
  Yuri Kamyshkov, a physics professor at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Tenn., has written a proposal to do anti-matter research in the proposed deep underground science and engineering laboratory at... [more]
  
  

• S.D. scientists looking for immediate practical applications from DUSEL research

  03-17-07 Black Hills Pioneer, Wendy Pitlick
  LEAD - Antibiotics that can sustain very high temperatures and enzymes that could help make ethanol production easier will be the focus of Drs. Sookie Bang, Bruce Bleakley, James Staley, Fathi Halaweish, and... [more]
  
  

• Governor lauds Homestake reopening progress, state prepares for NSF site visit

  03-09-07 Black Hills Pioneer, Wendy Pitlick
  LEAD - In the shadow of the Ross Hoist Governor Mike Rounds addressed a small crowd of scientists and media as he celebrated the beginning of a new era... [more]
  
  

• East coast scientists anxious to get back into Homestake

  03-06-07 Black Hills Pioneer, Wendy Pitlick
  LEAD - University of Pennsylvania physics professor Dr. Kenneth Lande just can't wait to get back into the Homestake Mine... [more]
  
  

• Locals gather for Neutrino Day

  02-27-07 Black Hills Pioneer, Wendy Pitlick
  LEAD - Anxiously awaiting news about the National Science Foundation's choice for a national lab site, Lead residents remained optimistic Friday as they gathered to celebrate the sixth annual Neutrino Day... [more]
  
  

• A good idea School of Mines professor works closely with Homestake lab planners

  02-23-07 Black Hills Pioneer, Wendy Pitlick
  RAPID CITY - When a good idea pops up in the scientific community, Tech professor Bill Roggenthen just has to support it... [more]
  
  

• Coming together

  02-15-07 Black Hills Pioneer, Wendy Pitlick
  LEAD - A memorandum of understanding between Black Hills State University and the S.D. Science and Technology Authority could help lay the groundwork for a science and education center in Lead... [more]
  
  

• Details released for Homestake Mine re-entry, dewatering program

  02-09-07 Black Hills Pioneer, Wendy Pitlick
  LEAD - By the time the water in the Homestake Mine rises to the 5,000-foot level this September, officials hope to have it contained... [more]
  
  

• NSF gets ready for lab site visits

  02-08-07 Black Hills Pioneer, Wendy Pitlick
  LEAD - The National Science Foundation has approximately $6 million in funding for scientists interested in conducting experiments in a deep underground science and engineering (DUSEL) laboratory... [more]
  
  

• NSF gets ready for lab site visits

  02-07-07 Black Hills Pioneer, Wendy Pitlick
  LEAD - The National Science Foundation has announced that it has approximately $6 million in funding for scientists interested in conducting experiments in a Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory, Dr. Kevin... [more]
  
  

• Two more join race for underground lab

  01-16-07 Rapid City Journal, Heidi Bell Gease
  Two more proposals are now in the running for a national underground science lab, but a member of South Dakota's planning team said he thinks the odds are still good for the proposal to convert Homestake gold mine into an underground lab... [more]
  
  

• Reopening Homestake solid evidence that lab is coming

  01-03-07 Rapid City Journal, Journal Editorial Board
  Page 1 headlines in the Rapid City Journal throughout 2006 traced both the status and progress of transforming Homestake gold mine in Lead into a national underground science and engineering laboratory... [more]
  
  

• Homestake ready to be pumped

  12-23-06 Argus Leader Staff Writer, Terry Woster
  Gov. Mike Rounds says the state is eager to start pumping the rising water from the idle Homestake Gold Mine but won't do that unless the site is chosen for a deep underground science laboratory... [more]
  
  

• State re-opening Homestake for deep lab

  12-22-06 Rapid City Journal, Bill Harlan
  The state of South Dakota will begin reopening the Homestake gold mine in Lead in January, Gov. Mike Rounds says... [more]
  
  

• Expanding research plans smart idea

  12-19-06 Aberdeen News
  South Dakota should continue its efforts to expand research within the state university system... [more]
  
  

• Mine Water Rises

  11-28-06 Rapid City Journal, Bill Harlan
  LEAD - Water is rising in the 8,000-foot-deep Homestake gold mine in Lead, even as scientists are passing around the first draft of their proposal to convert the closed mine into the deepest, most sophisticated underground science laboratory in the world... [more]
  
  

• Homestake Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL)

  8-4-06
  After 124 years of operation, the Homestake Mining Company announced on September 11, 2000 that it would be closing its underground gold mine in Lead, South Dakota. Scientists who had been involved with experiments conducted at the 4,850 foot level in the mine suggested that the site be used specifically as an underground science facility... [more]

Final Four of Physics

• Final Four of physics: Money, access, depth key for Lead DUSEL

  By Bill Harlan, Rapid City Journal Staff
  LEAD - The vast, ridge-top parking lot at the Yates Shaft in Lead - in decades past filled with the cars and pickups of hundreds of... [more]
  
  

• A profound effect: Lab could change the way Lead thinks about itself

  By Bill Harlan, Rapid City Journal Staff
  LEAD - Almost six years ago, when University of Pennsylvania physicist Ken Lande first suggested converting the Homestake gold mine... [more]
  
  

• Rounds: "Homestake Lab is the First Great Opportunity of the Century"

  By Governor Mike Rounds
  Decades ago, two pioneers--Gutzon Borglum and Korczak Ziolkowski--seized upon an opportunity to create something that would eventually... [more]
  
  

• Nelson: Lab designation would be a rebirth of sorts for Lead

  By Mayor Tom Nelson, City of Lead
  Being blessed with having been born and raised in Lead, South Dakota, was a great experience. Homestake Mining Company was our... [more]
  
  

• Merchen: DUSEL would inject economic vitality into the region

  By Mayor Tom Nelson, City of Lead
  Black Hills Vision is a regional economic development organization committed to advancing the region's quality of life and creating an.... [more]
  
  

• Ruch: School of Mines eager to be a key player in national lab effort

  By Charles Ruch, President, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
  Over the past several months, it has been my pleasure to travel throughout the country for the South Dakota School of Mines and... [more]
  
  

• Homestake clearly best choice for underground science lab

  By The Rapid City Journal Editorial Board
  Every spring, the nation's best college basketball teams are whittled down to the Final Four, and the winner of the NCAA tournament... [more]