Sanford Lab, Lead Chamber of Commerce exploring visitor center options

Lead, S.D.?The Sanford Underground Research Facility (Sanford Lab) and the Lead Chamber of Commerce are exploring options for a combined visitor center on Main Street. The new facility would be at the site of the current Homestake Visitor Center, overlooking the giant Open Cut in Lead. 

Homestake Mining Co., which owns the Open Cut, and the City of Lead, which owns part of the Visitor Center parking lot, also are participating in the discussions.

?We?ve worked closely on public outreach with the Lead Chamber of Commerce for more than five years,? Sanford Lab Director Mike Headley said. That partnership includes tours of the Yates Shaft hoist room, joint sponsorship of the annual Neutrino Day science festival and other educational activities. ?A combined visitor center could make our partnerships with the chamber and with the City of Lead even more effective,? Headley said.

Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Melissa Johnson said an upgraded visitor center would help the chamber staff tell the story of the entire community. ?People ask us every day about the Sanford Lab and its relationship to Lead and to the Homestake mine,? she said. ?The Visitor Center already has a small display devoted to the lab. It?s very popular, but we could do a lot more.?

The next step in the process will be a survey of the site, which to be completed this fall. ?We?re just in the planning phase,? Headley emphasized. Funding for the project could come, in part, from philanthropist T. Denny Sanford?s original donation to the Sanford Lab. Headley said the Sanford Lab and the Chamber of Commerce also would raise money from other sources.

Current Sanford Lab education programs will continue at the facility?s East Summit Street surface campus, near the Yates Shaft. Black Hills State University also will continue to play a major role in Sanford Lab education and outreach, along with South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and other state institutions.

Construction could begin as soon as next year, Headley said, pending completion of designs and fundraising.

For information about the Homestake Visitor Center, contact Lead Chamber of Commerce Excecutive Director Melissa Johnson at (605) 584-1100 or at chamberdirector@rushmore.com.