Reopening Homestake solid evidence that lab is coming

Rapid City Journal
By Journal Editorial Board - Rapid City Journal
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2007/01/03/news/opinion/opin01.txt

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.

But a headline in late December - "Homestake reopening" - concisely capped the year's events with the news that the state of South Dakota would indeed forge ahead and begin reopening the mine this month. Gold mining at Homestake ended in 2000 and the mine was sealed in 2003. A video inspection last June to the 4,850-foot level showed that timbers and other underground equipment were still intact.

Nevertheless, reopening the mine is not an easy task. Among things to be done in the first phase of the project are to re-commission hoists in the mine's two main shafts to allow access to the 4,850-foot level, and to install exhaust ventilation so air can be drawn back into the mine. An April 15 deadline has been set.

Next comes installation of underground water pumps and pumping out the water that has been gradually filling the mine.

State and South Dakota Science and Technical Authority officials admit what they are doing is a gamble. The National Science Foundation is expected to choose a site for a Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) by this spring, and Homestake and the Henderson molybdenum mine in Colorado are considered the frontrunners.

But it's not a done deal. If Homestake is chosen, its DUSEL would be established at the 7,400-foot level. Gov. Mike Rounds has directed the science authority to open an interim DUSEL at 4,850 feet so scientists can begin experiments sooner, and without waiting for the National Science Foundation OK.

Rounds said last month that South Dakota would proceed "as if Homestake will be chosen." That's a gutsy call, but also solid evidence that the governor and other state officials are confident that establishing an interim laboratory is the correct course.

Homestake will continue to be in the headlines in 2007 and beyond. Here's one we wouldn't mind seeing at the top of Page 1: "Homestake chosen as national lab."