Homestake team inspects 4850L construction

In 2006, Homestake Mining Co. and South Dakota reached a historic agreement. Homestake would donate its underground gold mine in Lead to the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority for the purpose of converting the mine into an underground laboratory. In return, the SDSTA agreed to operate the property under the terms of a detailed Property Donation Agreement, or PDA.

The PDA had taken more than five years to negotiate?partly because of the complexities of protecting Homestake from liability for a science lab but also to satisfy Homestake and its parent company, Barrick Gold Corp., that South Dakota would operate the lab safely and in a way that protected the environment. 

That?s one reason the PDA also stipulated that Homestake had the right to inspect the property they had donated, and that?s what happened Friday morning. (Please note: The Homestake team was NOT here to explore resuming mining. The PDA prohibits mining here.)

Homestake Closure Manager Todd Duex and five colleagues rode the 7:30 a.m. cage to the 4850 Level, where they visited the Ross and Davis campuses. ?We?re emphasizing cooperation, safety and communication,? Duex said before the tour.

Also representing Homestake on the tour were Environmental Manager Mark Tieszen, Operations Manager Les Erikson and consultants Todd Hubbard of Sundance Engineering and Mark Zwaschka of JBR Environmental Consultants, Inc.

Sanford Lab Operations Director Greg King and Operations Safety Officer Tom Regan led the tour, with assistance from Sanford Lab Geologist Tom Trancynger and Underground Construction Project Engineer Bryce Pietzyk. 

Homestake donated a huge amount of underground real estate?more than 370 miles of tunnels and 7,700 acres of excavated space. Regan explained to the Homestake team that the Sanford Underground Laboratory is using only a fraction of that space. In fact, the lab?s ?ventilation profile??the area where fresh air is delivered?includes only about 15 miles of tunnels.  The rest of the former mine is sealed off from the laboratory by air doors and by walls that retain water and sand. Regan also explained how the Sanford Lab has hired inspectors from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) as consultants to regularly inspect the lab. King described underground infrastructure, including the dewatering system.

The team inspected the Majorana Demonstrator project?s temporary electroforming laboratory and construction under way at the Davis Campus, where contractors are pouring concrete.

?It?s very impressive,? Duex said. ?It?s a first-rate operation.?