Former gold mine to become science lab

LEAD, S.D., July 10 (UPI) -- The deepest underground mine in the United States has been selected by the National Science Foundation to become a multi-purpose science laboratory.

The former Homestake gold mine in the Black Hills near Lead, S.D., was selected from among four finalists to become a deep underground science and engineering laboratory.

The facility will be named the Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory, in recognition of a $70 million gift for the Homestake effort from philanthropist T. Denny Sanford, owner of the First Premier Bank and Premier Bankcard Inc.

Homestake is the nation's deepest mine, reaching a depth of more than 8,000 feet. With more than 375 miles of existing tunnels, it is ideally suited for conversion into a research facility, scientists said.

Homestake was the site of the largest gold deposit ever found in the Western Hemisphere. Mining operations, which began in 1876 and continued until 2001, yielded 40 million ounces of gold.

In 1965, nuclear physicist Raymond Davis of Brookhaven National Laboratory set up the world's first solar neutrino detector at the 4,850-foot level, and conducted the research that won him a share of the 2002 Nobel Prize in physics.