Homestake ready to be pumped

By Terry Woster - Argus Leader Staff Writer
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PIERRE - 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.

Homestake and the Henderson mine in Colorado are competitors for National Science Foundation designation for the underground lab. Rounds and others say it would have a huge effect on the economy of the Black Hills and the rest of the state and would propel South Dakota forward into cutting-edge physics research.

However, water is rising in the 8,000-foot-deep mine. When it was an operating gold mine, huge pumps controlled the water level. Those pumps were switched off after mining ended. Recently, officials said water had risen to about the 5,600-foot level.

The state has plans to begin an interim lab at the 4,850-foot level, if the National Science Foundation decision favors the state.

"We have water rising in the mine,'' Rounds said in a recent radio call-in show on Dakota News Network in Pierre. "The NSF is aware of that. We really want to get in and start pumping it. We're not going to spend taxpayer dollars until such time as we know we've been selected."

The selection date is April 1, but Rounds said it could be later than that.

"We're hoping it is April 1, but we're not going to hold our breath."

Earlier this month, a camera was lowered to the 4,850-foot level to allow experts to inspect the condition of the shaft. A following report said the shaft was in good shape and would allow unrestricted travel to the target level.

The video inspection has been successfully completed, according to the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority.

Greg King, property development manager for the authority, said the inspection showed the Ross Shaft remains in solid shape and that crews would be able to use it for unrestricted travel from the top to the 4,850-foot level.

Space at that level would serve as the Homestake Interim Laboratory to be built primarily with a $70 million donation from Sioux Falls philanthropist T. Denny Sanford, $35 million in state money and $10 million in federal money.

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