Deep Impact

4,850 feet

below the Earth's surface Sanford Lab completes Davis Campus construction, dedicates world-class laboratory in Lead, S.D. A Special Report from the

DEEP IMPACT - DEDICATING THE DAVIS CAMPUS

Page 2

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Deep Impact!

Sanford Lab completes Davis Campus construction, dedicates world-class laboratory

BY WENDY PITLICK Black Hills Pioneer LEAD — Three years ago when William McElroy first started working on the project to build a world-class laboratory underground in Lead, there were many days of frustration as his crew slopped through the mud and muck to make it happen.

“You want what? Where?” was the sentiment McElroy said frequently went through his head. Though he had no doubt that the project would move forward and that underground science would prevail in the former gold mine, some days were more challenging than others. Today, McElroy joins all of the employees, scientist and dignitaries at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in celebrating their success as they dedicate

‘It is amazing what it has turned into.

There were a lot of things to overcome.

Now you go down there, and you actually see what it has become and it is awesome.’

William McElroy project manager for Davis Campus construction at SURF

Deep Impact is a special section produced by the

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PUBLISHER, Letitia Lister MANAGING EDITOR, Mark Watson REPORTER, Wendy Pitlick PAGE DESIGNER, Leah Shockey COPYRIGHT, 2012, Black Hills Pioneer. All rights reserved.

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the completed underground laboratory in the Davis Campus.

“It's amazing what it has turned into,” McElroy, who is the Sanford Lab's project manager for the Davis Campus construction, said. “You go through those dog days of a project, when you face challenge after challenge, and you just keep plugging ahead.

There were a lot of those days. There were a lot of things to overcome. Now you go down there, and you actually see what it has become, and it is awesome.

“We were down there three years ago this March just slopping around in the mud and the yuck. You came out red, head to toe,” McElroy said. “Now to actually see it, it's something else. It's very rewarding.”

Now, scientists are preparing to reap the rewards in the newly constructed facility. All eyes in the international science community are on Lead today as the S.D. Science and Technology Authority dedicates the Sanford Underground Research Facility Davis Campus, 4,850 feet underground.

The space, which the late Nobel prizewinning physicist Ray Davis used to conduct his neutrino research in the 1960s, is now a fully operational laboratory complete with two stories of concrete, plumbing and HVAC systems, ultra-high speed Internet connections of about 1 gigabyte per second, an ultra-clean Davis Transition Area for the MAJORANA Demonstrator experiment, and other necessary infrastructure.

The full laboratory includes 19,433 square feet. That includes two stories of 1,829 square feet for the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) dark matter detector, and the transition area of 8,150 square feet for the MAJORANA Demonstrator neutrinoless double beta decay experiment.

Also included in the space is a massive water tank that measures 24 feet in diameter, is two stories high, and will hold about 300 tons of water. The tank will be used with the LUX dark matter detector.

Ainsworth-Benning Construction, of

Sanford Lab technician Luke Scott inspects the Davis Cavern in September 2009, shortly after the Ray Davis neutrino experiment had been removed. Scott and other Sanford Lab technicians, many of them former Homestake gold miners, expanded the Davis Cavern for use by the LUX dark matter detector. Ainsworth-Benning Construction of Spearfish outfitted the cavern for the new experiment.

Photo by Bill Harlan/Sanford Underground Research Facility Spearfish, was awarded the $8 million contract to outfit the Davis Campus and turn it into a lab.

James Benning, vice president of Ainsworth-Benning Construction, said he is very pleased with the results of the project.

“It has been an honor for AinsworthBenning Construction to be part of the

By the numbers...

From 2004 to the present, funding for the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) has come from the following sources:

$40.2 million

$70

million

$10

million

From the state of South Dakota for startup costs associated with dewatering the facility and starting the project From T. Denny Sanford, with $50 million to be spent on construction and re-entry activities and $20 million reserved for education and outreach From a HUD grant that Sen. Tim Johnson secured as the first federal funds for the project

$91.5 million

$57

Sanford Lab Davis Campus Outfitting project,” he said. “I am extremely pleased with how well the S.D. Science and Technology Authority and Ainsworth-Benning personnel interfaced on this project. I couldn't be prouder of everyone involved from the See DEEP IMPACT — Page 3

From the National Science Foundation for the development of engineering plans that now serve as the blueprint for phased lab development, education and outreach activities, and related costs From the Department of Energy for operating expenses

million

$1.5

For the LUX experiment, plus an additional $2 million a year for operating expenses associated with LUX

$21

For the MAJORANA Demonstrator, plus an additional $4 million a year for operating expenses associated with MAJORANA

million

million

$10.5 million

In interest earnings

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

DEEP IMPACT Continued from Page 2 Ainsworth-Benning side including Project Superintendent Jim Heilman, Project Manager David Haught and Project Management Assistant Chris Rans. It's always rewarding to be part of a project that is this unique and has this level of local and national significance.”

Kevin Lesko, the University of California-Berkeley physicist who has spearheaded the effort to build a deep underground laboratory in Lead for 10 years, said completion of the Davis Campus construction marks a milestone for the international science community.

“The dedication of the Davis Campus is a major milestone for U.S. physics,” Lesko said. “The Davis Campus experiments are major international efforts in dark matter and neutrinoless double beta decay, helping to maintain U.S. leadership in these important research areas.

Each of these experiments foresees something like five years of operation and establishing world leadership in their respective searches for dark matter and neutrinoless double beta decay. The dedication of the Davis Campus signifies the continuing of U.S. leadership of these topics, but beginning this research in a deep U.S. facility. We are deploying the most advanced detectors,

DEEP IMPACT - DEDICATING THE DAVIS CAMPUS led by U.S. collaborations, in a U.S. laboratory and we are not shipping our best and brightest overseas to pursue these absolutely critical investigations.”

Sanford Lab Director Mike Headley said today's dedication marks the realization of a vision that state and federal officials, scientists, and those in private enterprise set forth several years ago.

“This achievement demonstrates we can develop underground science facilities successfully, and we're ready to move forward and expand to include future experiments,” Headley said.

“The transformation of the Davis Campus from our initial plans back in 2008 to the realization of an operational underground science facility today has been truly impressive. I'm very proud of the entire S.D. James Science and Benning Technology Authority team in reaching this vice president milestone and thankof Ainsworthful for T. Denny Benning Sanford's and the state Construction of South Dakota's of Spearfish generous support of this project. And all of this work, nearly a mile underground, has been completed with an excellent safety record. This milestone really puts the Sanford Underground Research Facility on the map in the larger physics community.”

Ron Wheeler, executive director of the Sanford Underground Research Facility, said completion of the Davis Campus construction represents what can happen when

‘It's always rewarding to be part of a project that is this unique and has this level of local and national significance.’

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By the numbers...

For the Davis Campus construction crews used:

29 525 2,000 13,000

Tons of rebar Cubic yards of concrete Cubic yards of fill material Concrete blocks

80,000 75,000 7 30

private and public entities join forces.

Wheeler pointed out that the lab completion was made possible through a collaboration between the state of South Dakota, which gave more than $40 million for the early project; Sioux Falls philanthropist T. Denny Sanford, who provided $50 million for project construction and facility rehabilitation work; and more than $158.5 million in federal funds that were used to create the engineering plans, fund operating expenses, and cover other associated costs. All of these investments, Wheeler said, will be repaid in the vast discoveries that will be made about our universe, and the associated opportunities that come with those discoveries.

“The state of South Dakota, the federal government and the generosity of T. Denny Sanford have all combined to create a U.S. underground facility that can house future generations of experiments that can keep the U.S. in a leadership role in physics well into the future and can be used to advance knowledge in other science disciplines as well,” Wheeler said. “It is important to

South Dakota School of Mines and Technology chemist Cabot-Ann Christopherson adjusts one of 10 electroforming baths in a temporary clean room 4,850 feet underground. The baths are producing the world's purest copper, which will be used to construct the MAJORANA Demonstrator experiment. Copper electroformed in clean rooms deep underground, protected from cosmic radiation, contains almost no impurities. Photo by Steve Babbitt/Black Hills State University

Pounds of spiral ductwork Pounds of rectangular ductwork Miles of conduit Miles of wire

remember that all 'applied research' such as modern electronics comes from 'basic research,' and is why the types of research that will be conducted at the Sanford Underground Research Facility are so important to the United States in the future.”

Following the dedication ceremony, scheduled for May 30, Headley said scientists with LUX and MAJORANA will begin installing their experiments in their designated spaces. That transition is expected to take the remainder of 2012, as it involves moving sensitive materials 4,850 feet underground and setting them up for science.

Headley said the scientific community has had a very positive response to the construction completion at the Davis Campus.

Steve Elliott, spokesman for the MAJORANA Demonstrator, said representatives for that experiment have been on site nearly full time. Members of the collaboration took tours of the newly completed lab space during a regular meeting May 8-10. “(We were all) very impressed,” he said.

“SURF personnel have been enthusiastic and extremely helpful in getting us going and providing support. The collaboration is excited about beginning our work underground.”

Work to build the underground laboratory at Homestake has already had a ripple effect throughout the entire Northern Hills community, as education institutions throughout the area capitalize on the intellectual benefits, and area businesses and contractors have enjoyed contracts and employment benefits. From 2007 through projections for 2012, the lab will have spent more than $100 million in South Dakota.

The lab currently employs 116 fulltime personnel. In 2011 the lab maintained contracts with 27 South Dakota companies, and used services from 186 South Dakota vendors.

Overall, Lesko said the Sanford Lab development is a milestone that will go down in history as a great event for science.

“With (the experiments here) we are pursuing basic research, fundamental investigations of our universe,” Lesko said. “(These are) esoteric topics today, but topics that will require that we rewrite the textbooks in a few years. The support for the science and scientists by the citizens of South Dakota, generally, and the local residents in western South Dakota in particular, is fantastic. We are frequently placed on the defensive for wanting to pursue these types of experiments. But in South Dakota the scientists are 'rock stars.'”

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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Sanford Lab economic impact slow but significant

BY WENDY PITLICK Black Hills Pioneer LEAD — For Lead resident Danielle Reller, the Sanford Underground Research Facility provides an opportunity for her family to stay together, and an opportunity to stay in the Black Hills.

Before getting a job at the lab, Danielle's husband, Fritz, who worked for Homestake before the

mine shut down in 2002, worked away from his family in Washington. The distance was too much, Danielle said, and the family is very grateful for the lab that gave him a job closer to home.

“It was just way too far away from the family, and we couldn't deal with it, so he came home,” Danielle said of when her husband was working in Washington.

“We would probably have to

move from here if it wasn't for the lab.”

Jerry Hinker, who now works as an infrastructure technician at the Sanford Lab, had a very similar situation before getting his job at the lab. Hinker worked as a contract miner for Homestake for 20 years, and when he was let go he found mining work in Montana. For five years, Hinker said, he worked up north for

In June 2011, a remotely-operated machine compacts gravel for the floor in the newly excavated Transition Area 4,850 feet underground. Photo by Matt Kapust/Sanford Underground Research Facility

seven days, and then drove about five hours to spend his seven days off with his family in Lead.

“Both of our kids were at home still,” Hinker said of his time in Montana.

“They were in high school and junior high. (My wife) had to do most of the herding when they were at that age, and so that put a lot of extra burden on her trying to keep all of that straight while I was in Montana.

It was travel back and forth every week.”

But when Hinker heard about RCS Construction's contract to open up the Yates Shaft to start the beginning stages of developing a science lab underground, he jumped at the chance to be part of the project. He started working with RCS on its Yates Shaft contract, in the hopes that the job would turn into something more permanent.

“I took a big roll of the dice

that the lab would pick me up when construction of the Yates Shaft was over,” Hinker said. “As far as what it meant, it was better than having to go all the way to Montana every week.”

For Tom Regan, operation safety Barb officer for the Mattson Sanford Lab, a lifelong the lab offers Leada chance for him and his Deadwood wife — both resident of whom grew up here with generational ties to Homestake — to stay in this area that they love. “This is our home.

This is where we want to be,” Regan said. “It has really worked out well. (We went) from fear, to expectation, to thanksgiving.

We're in a good place and feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to do what we're doing.”

For many of the Sanford Lab's 116 employees, more than 70 of whom were former Homestake employees, the story is the same.

‘The fact that we've gone from hard rock miners to nuclear science, that's significant.’

See ECONOMIC IMPACT — Page 5

Timeline 2000

September — After 125 years of operation, the Homestake Mining Company announced that it would close its gold mine in Lead. Scientists who had been involved with experiments conducted at the 4,850-foot level in the mine suggested that the site be used specifically as an underground science facility.

2001

February — A group of physicists tours the Homestake Mine. A banner strewn across Main Street in Lead reads "Welcome Scientists." Feb. 23 would become known as "Neutrino Day" for years to come.

March — A blue ribbon committee of scientists picked the 125-year-old Homestake Gold Mine for the site of a world-leading underground science laboratory.

2002

January — Underground mining at the 125-year-old Homestake Mine concluded as the last ore was "skipped" to the top of the mine.

June — Barrick Gold Corp. officials outlined to Lead residents the decommissioning and demolition plans for the

defunct Homestake Gold Mine.

October — University of Pennsylvania scientist Raymond Davis split the $1 million Nobel Prize for physics with two other scientists for pioneering the construction of giant underground chambers to detect neutrinos.

2003

January — Barrick Gold Corp. remains ready to negotiate with South Dakota on the terms to transfer the mine over to the state for pursuit of an underground laboratory. Newly elected Gov. Mike Rounds took this on with enthusiasm and determination.

June — The National Science Foundation voted unanimously that Lead's Homestake Mine is the best site for a possible underground physics laboratory.

Homestake was chosen based on the geology and depth of the site.

On June 10, Barrick Gold Corp. officials shut down the pumps in the Homestake Mine. State officials announced they were still committed to reaching an indemnification agreement so the company could donate the mine for use as a lab. As negotiations continued, water was flooding the mine at a rate of three-quarters of a million gallons a day.

The Davis Cavern, during outfitting for the LUX dark matter detector, in August 2011. The tunnel at the top leads to the Transition Area, where the MAJORANA Demonstrator experiment is being installed this year. Photo by Matt Kapust/Sanford Underground Research Facility July — The Homestake Collaboration submitted a proposal to the National Science Foundation detailing plans to turn the decommissioned gold mine into a world-class laboratory.

November — Homestake Mining Company sealed the Yates and the Ross shafts to prevent possible damage to the infrastructure.

December — Gov. Mike Rounds asked

the state legislature for $10 million to convert the Homestake Mine into a national underground science laboratory.

2004

January — Gov. Mike Rounds signs an agreement between South Dakota and Barrick Gold Corp. The agreement marked the end of years of negotiations between See TIMELINE — Page 7

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

ECONOMIC IMPACT Continued from Page 4 And while the economic impact has not been as strong as what forecasters originally anticipated when scientists hoped to start building a $750 million deep underground science and engineering laboratory by 2012, Sanford Lab Communications Director Bill Harlan said the lab is still making an impact.

From 2007 through 2012, Harlan reported that the lab will have spent about $100 million in South Dakota for operating expenses, construction contracts, vendor contracts and other associated costs. Annual operating expenses at the Sanford Lab are between $12 million and $15 million, and of that about $9 million is payroll. The lab employs 116 people fulltime and has an additional 21 parttime employees. In 2011 there were 186 South Dakota vendors who did business with the Sanford Lab, and 27 different contractors. Currently there are 14 active research groups, with collaborations that often span hundreds of scientists and professionals from around the country. Of those, Harlan reported, there are 13 research groups that have South Dakota members. While they are in town, Harlan said, researchers often rent houses locally for extended stays of sometimes three months or more, buying groceries, attending events, and spending money here in town.

Whether they are vendors, contractors or employees at the lab, Harlan said each of those people have an impact on the community as they shop, eat lunch and work in Lead.

“There has been a very large economic impact,” Harlan said. “The economic impact is not the same as it might have been had the project proceeded as planned with DUSEL.” Currently the Sanford Lab is the thirdlargest employer in Lead — with the Lead-Deadwood School District leading

DEEP IMPACT - DEDICATING THE DAVIS CAMPUS with 177 employees, and Wharf Resources with 150 workers. That alone, officials say, helps with the overall economy.

“If the Lead Chamber of Commerce said 'we are going to bring in a new business that is going to have 100 good-paying jobs,' that would be cause for celebration,” Harlan said. “That still might not be enough to revitalize Main Street. But if you ask six people off the street if the lab had any impact, if I was one of the people, I would say 'yeah, it has an impact. I have a job.'”

Melissa Johnson, executive director of the Lead Area Chamber of Commerce, said for a town the size of Lead to have a world-class laboratory on the heels of one of the world's largest gold mines is pretty amazing. Both the historic mine and the future Tom lab have been great Regan employers in the city, she said.

Operation “For a town of safety officer about 3,100 people to for the have two significant Sanford Lab impacts not only once, but twice, is pretty amazing,” she said.

Karen Everett, executive director of the Lead-Deadwood Arts Center, said she watches the lab's community impact from her office on Main Street every day. The arts council's framing business also benefits from the lab.

“I can see employees of the lab having lunch and attending some of our events,” she said. “We have also done framing, shrink wrapping, posters and things for the lab. It has had a positive impact. It's great to hear people talking about the 4,850 level, just like in the old days.”

Mallory Hook, executive director of the Black Hills Mining Museum, also pointed out that the lab will participate in this summer's Lead Live festivities. On the second Tuesday of every month, starting in June, lab officials will set up science activities for the community to participate in while they enjoy live music and entertainment on Main Street.

Page 5

‘From fear, to expectation, to thanksgiving. We're in a good place and feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to do what we're doing.’

By the numbers...

Economic impact:

$12-15

Sanford Lab annual operating expenses

million

116

Full-time S.D. Science and Technology Authority employees

21

Part-time S.D. Science and Technology Authority employees

186

South Dakota vendors in 2011 at the Sanford Lab

27

South Dakota contractors in 2011 at the Sanford Lab

14

Active research groups at the Sanford Lab

13

Active research groups with South Dakota members

In January of this year, the entrance to the Davis Campus at the 4,850 level nicknamed "the Little X," was nearing completion.

Photo by Matt Kapust/Sanford Underground Research Facility Barb Mattson, a lifelong resident of the Lead-Deadwood area, said she appreciates the transition that has taken place at the lab.

“The fact that we've gone from hard rock miners to nuclear science, that's significant,” she said. “Just the fact that there is a chance to go to that mine now, where there never used to be.”

Jamie Heupel, owner of Lotus Up coffee shop in Lead, said she frequently hosts large groups of scientists in her shop, as well as visitors who express interest in the progress of the lab. Heupel keeps books of lab updates and articles about the Sanford Lab science that she uses to educate travelers and locals alike who express an interest.

Additionally, Harlan pointed out the rapid rate of growth the Sanford Lab has seen over the last few years. When he accepted his position at the lab in 2008 he was the 23rd employee. Now there are 116 people who work as administrators, hoist operators, communications representatives, infrastructure technicians and other positions.

Those employees, he said, live throughout the Black Hills area, from Rapid City to Spearfish, Lead and Deadwood.

Additionally, Harlan pointed out the contractors who send employees to work at the lab every day.

“That's a good growth rate for a relatively small business,” Harlan said. “It's not 1,000 people who work here. It's not like Homestake was. It was never envisioned to be like Homestake was. If it had been DUSEL, we might have two or three times the employment up here this year than we have had. We all understand what has happened with the economy.”

Overall, Harlan said, the Sanford Lab is committed to looking ahead, and hoping to grow as a premier site for science with a growing community impact, though that impact may be decades in Karen the making.

“In the early days Everett of this project, people executive had a grand vision director of that this would be the the LeadCape Canaveral of Deadwood particle physics,” Harlan said. “One of Arts Center the carryovers from that era is people's expectations that this would be a huge, huge, Homestake-sized impact. It may yet be something like that. Thirty years from now you may look back and say 'this lab is what the original DUSEL vision was.’ But you're really treading on thin ice if you're going to make that as a forecast. We think this is a great place to do some of the most important physics experiments of the 21st century. We're all working to make that happen. We're not forecasting the results.

We're a fair-sized employer for Lawrence County, and they're all good jobs.”

‘It has had a positive impact. It's great to hear people talking about the 4,850 level, just like in the old days.’

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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Sanford Lab education impact spans multiple ages, levels

BY WENDY PITLICK Black Hills Pioneer

Researchers make small adjustments to the LUX dark matter detector, seen here in a clean room at the surface laboratory. Fully assembled, the detector will be inside a double-walled titanium "cryostat," similar to a vacuum thermos, and submerged in liquid Xenon cooled to minus 160 degrees fahrenheit. Photo by Matt Kapust/Sanford Underground Research Facility

By the numbers... number of teachers who participated in Sanford 260 the Lab education and outreach programs in 2011 number of students who participated in Sanford 1,248 the Lab education and outreach programs in 2011 of the general public who attended Sanford 1,678 members Lab education and outreach activities in 2011

Photomultiplier tubes in the LUX detector are sensitive enough to register a single photon of light. This array is designed to detect the tiny flashes that result from collisions of dark matter particles with the nuclei of Xenon atoms. Photo by Matt Kapust/Sanford Underground Research Facility

science club for girls, to Davis-Bahcall Scholarship recipients who spend a portion of their summer visiting laboratories around the LEAD — Having a world-class underground world to study particle physics and other phenomscience laboratory in his hometown has opened ena, the Sanford Underground Research doors Adam Caldwell never even Facility offers a wide array of educadreamed of. tional opportunities for any students A 2010 Lead-Deadwood High who are interested.

School graduate, Caldwell first started “I think it's important that students paying serious attention to the lab get exposed to science that is happenwhen he was a senior in high school ing now and not just what's in the textand he helped Sanford Lab Deputy books,” Norris said. “(It's good for Director of Education and Outreach them) to see what a science research Peggy Norris build a cosmic ray project is like and the teamwork it detector for his senior project. The takes, the combination of engineering summer after he graduated, Caldwell and science that it takes, and the fact went on to take advantage of the Adam that things aren't neatly compartmentalDavis-Bahcall Scholarship, and study Caldwell ized between chemistry, biology and science at Fermilab, which is well physics, but all of it is involved. I think known for its research in long basethat is really a good thing for the students to line neutrinos. become aware of early.”

Since then, the lab has opened many doors of With that goal in mind, Norris works with science for this junior chemistry and chemical other members of the S.D. Science and engineering major at the S.D. School of Mines Technology Authority education and outreach and Technology. In 2011, Caldwell worked as an staff to make sure that the Sanford Lab makes an intern in the science department at the Sanford education impact on the Northern Hills communiLab. Now, Caldwell is actively working with the ty and beyond. In addition to working with school MAJORANA collaboration with a chemistry progroups from the immediate area, Norris also confessor from the S.D. School of Mines and sistently brings in groups from eastern South Technology, and he is preparing to help set the Dakota, Bison, S.D., Gillette, Wyo., and beyond. neutrinoless double beta decay experiment up in One of the programs Norris is involved in is the Davis Cavern underground. Caldwell said he actually a collaboration between other members works in the copper electroforming department of the community called Lead's Educational Field underground, and he helps maintain all of the Trips. The project started a few years ago, when equipment in the lab. partners from the Black Hills Mining Museum, “Working at the lab has made me want to do the Sanford Lab, the Homestake Visitor's Center, research for a living,” Caldwell said. “Originally I the Black Hills/Fort Pierre Railroad Roundhouse, was just studying chemical engineering, but after and the Historic Homestake Opera House joined being at the lab so long I've added chemistry. It's efforts to promote Lead as an education destinamore science-oriented. All of my experience is at tion. the lab. If it were not so close to where I grew up “We were trying to advertise Lead as being a or am going to school now, I don't even know destination to look at past, present and future,” where I would be. The opportunities that have Norris said.

“So the idea was that if they came for been opened to me have really changed my life.” a whole day they could go visit the mining museCaldwell's story is one of many from students um and the Roundhouse and the opera house, and around the tri-state area who have enjoyed the they could do some science that would be looking educational opportunities the lab has to offer. at what the future is going to be. It has been one From elementary school students who visit the of my only opportunities to work with elementary lab and participate in engineering challenges, to a students, because it is attracting a lot of fourthand fifth-graders, when they start to study South Dakota history.”

Black Hills Mining Museum Executive Director Mallory Hook, who is heavily involved with the program, said when the collaboration began to market Lead they sent brochures out to every school within a 200-mile radius. Because of that the program has exploded, and just this year she hosted 800 students, from more than 17 different school groups.

“I can hardly keep them straight; we've had so many,” Hook said. “We just show them the history of mining in the area, and what the lab is doing now. It's been great!”

It's an opportunity Hook said Lead might not have if the lab was not here.

“I think having the lab is definitely a draw for the schools,” she said. “I think having the lab attached to this helps. I think the history is important also, but to see the two together is a lot better.”

See EDUCATION IMPACT — Page 7

DEEP IMPACT - DEDICATING THE DAVIS CAMPUS

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

LUX researcher Rachel Mannino of Texas A&M University, in the surface laboratory clean room, moves a delicate electrical grid that's part of a system to create an electrical field in the dark matter detector.

Photo by Matt Kapust/Sanford Underground Research Facility

EDUCATION IMPACT Continued from Page 6 Conversely, Norris said Lead's rich history attracts many teachers, who later become hooked on science for future visits.

“There are certain elementary school

TIMELINE Continued from Page 4 the two entities.

February — The South Dakota State Legislature committed $14.3 million to the project. The action set the stage for the National Science Foundation to consider the site.

August — It was announced that Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory would take over the Homestake Lab Conversion Project. Dr. Kevin Lesko would take the reins and act as the principal investigator for the effort.

2005

February — Scientists working as part of the Homestake Collaboration submitted their first proposal supporting the underground laboratory to the National Science Foundation.

July — Homestake and Henderson Colorado mines are selected as the two preferred sites for DUSEL. Both sites received $500,000 to further develop their proposals.

The S.D. Science and Technology Authority and the Homestake Collaboration propose building an interim laboratory at the 4,850-foot level as part of its strategy to secure the national underground lab.

September — The state struck a property transfer agreement

teachers who are really excited about science,” Norris said. “But there are probably many more who are nervous about it. My idea in working with the rest of the community is if they come in for the history, then we can hook them to come in for the science.”

Many school groups come in just for the

science, Norris said. During the school year, she said, it is common for school groups of varying sizes and age groups to come to the lab for tours and education presentations.

One group of 13 students from Chamberlain spent the night in Lead at the Days Inn, and then spent the rest of the next day doing science projects at the lab.

Another group of 55 students from LeadDeadwood Elementary School recently spent three hours working on an engineering challenge at the lab, while taking turns at tours of the hoist room. Norris said students used 2-foot mailing tubes as a shaft, and were tasked with designing a hoist that would lift a load up and out of the mailing tube and ring a bell.

“Each group had different ideas of how to put this together, most of which I hadn't even considered,” Norris said. “It really went great. It was fun.”

As much as Norris hosts students at the Sanford Lab facility, she also brings educational programming out into the Northern Hills community and beyond. SciGirls, one of the programs Norris started last fall, started out slow but has gained momentum.

The program is a science club for girls in the fifth through eighth grades. By the end of the school year, Norris said she had two active SciGirls clubs at the Journey Museum in Rapid City, and one in Spearfish. Next year she hopes to work to generate SciGirls interest in Lead and Belle Fourche. Norris said she has already had

Page 7 multiple requests from teachers in Rapid City who want even more SciGirls programming.

“I'm looking at how to expand it and not go crazy,” Norris said with a smile. “I am looking to train some teachers and train some volunteers to run that.”

In addition to science activities, Norris said, the lab has also hosted students for other education disciplines. For government day, students from Lead-Deadwood High School visited the lab to study its operations as a quasi-governmental entity. Earlier this year the lab also hosted English students from Sturgis, who learned about technical writing.

Throughout the Northern Hills community, Norris said many more educational activities related to the lab occur on a regular basis. She has even had reports of graduate students involved with the Large Underground Xenon dark matter detector, who have met area teachers on hiking trails or on the ski slopes. Those meetings have served as the catalysts for LUX educational presentations in local classrooms.

Overall, Caldwell said the lab makes him proud to be from Lead.

“Having the lab in Lead makes me proud to say where I'm from,” he said. “It has really changed the gears of the city. From being a mining town to a piggyback off of the gambling in Deadwood, having the lab gives the town a different feel.”

with Homestake and Barrick Gold Corp. to transfer the mine to public ownership.

October — State legislators approved a $19.9 million expenditure to develop an interim laboratory at Homestake's 4,850-foot level.

2006

May — On May 17, the state of South Dakota became the proud owner of the Homestake Gold Mine as Gov. Mike Rounds, S.D. Science and Technology Chairman Dave Bozied and Barrick Gold Corp.

Executive Vice President and General Counsel Patrick Garver gathered in Lead to sign the final papers to transfer mine ownership.

Gov. Mike Rounds announces that Sioux Falls philanthropist T. Denny Sanford will pledge $70 million to the Homestake project.

The site is officially named the Sanford Laboratory at Homestake.

2007

February — SEH Engineering unveils an aggressive plan to re-enter the Ross Shaft and begin pumping water out. Officials from the S.D. Science and Technology Authority set a deadline of Sept.

11, 2007 to have the work completed, as that is the time when the water is estimated to reach the 5,000-foot level.

Karl Burke, representing Barrick Gold Corp., former Gov. Mike Rounds, and the late S.D. Science and Technology Authority Board President Dave Bozied announced that a land transfer agreement had been reached. Pioneer file photo March — South Dakota begins to move forward with plans to install Internet 3, a highly advanced form of Internet deemed necessary for scientists to share data between the proposed DUSEL at Homestake and other universities and national labs around the world.

July — At about 9 a.m. on July 10, the National Science Foundation site selection panel chairman calls Dr. Kevin Lesko with good news. Homestake would host the deep underground science and engineering laboratory.

2008

March — On March 24, Dr.

Jose Alonso, director of the Sanford Lab, hit the button that turned on the first underground pump.

April — Sanford Lab officials prepare to re-open the Yates Shaft for the first time since it was sealed in 2003.

The Sanford Lab releases the first water from the mine amidst a string of flooding incidents throughout the Northern Black Hills.

July — On Monday, July 7 Ron Wheeler takes the reins as the new executive director of the Sanford Lab. December — Experiments that are proposed for a Deep

Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory at Homestake are among some of the top priorities for the Office of Science and High Energy Physics at the Department of Energy, one of the agency's top-level officials said Monday. Dr. Dennis Kovar, associate director of the Office of Science and High Energy Physics at the Department of Energy, said establishing a long baseline neutrino experiment in the proposed DUSEL, which would have Fermilab National Laboratory near Chicago shooting a beam of neutrinos deep into the depths of the former Homestake gold mine for study, is a very high priority for his office.

See TIMELINE — Page 8

DEEP IMPACT - DEDICATING THE DAVIS CAMPUS

Page 8

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

‘Neutrinos get under your skin’ Renowned theorist to explain mysterious particles in a free public talk LEAD — Physicist Boris Kayser of mysterious substance called “dark matter.”

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR near Chicago will present his experiment will test technology popular talk, “Neutrinos get to search for an extremely rare under your skin,” at a free pubform of radioactive decay. Both lic presentation at 6 p.m. on experiments will help advance Wednesday, May 30, at the our understanding of the uniHistoric Homestake Opera verse.

House on Main Street in Lead.

The Davis Campus is named A social hour will begin at 5 for the late nuclear chemist p.m Ray Davis, who in 1965 The event celebrates the installed an experiment at opening of the Davis Campus Homestake's 4,850-foot level Boris nearly a mile underground in to detect subatomic particles the Sanford Underground called neutrinos produced in Kayser Research Facility (Sanford Lab) the sun. The experiment ran at the former Homestake gold for decades, and Davis earned mine in Lead. Underground labs protect a share of the Nobel Prize for Physics in sensitive experiments from cosmic radia2002 for his research. tion, and two important physics experiNeutrinos are among the most abunments are being installed in the Davis dant particles in the universe, but they Campus this year. The Large Underground are difficult to detect and study. Dr. Xenon detector, or LUX, will search for a Kayser, a renowned physics theorist, has

Parts of the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) dark matter detector are assembled on the surface at the SURF. Photo courtesy of Sanford Lab

TIMELINE Continued from Page 7

2009

May — On May 13, 2009 at approximately 11 a.m., Sanford Lab officials celebrated when underground crews reported that they were standing on a dry 4,850-foot level in Homestake.

Though it would still be about another month before crews would start thoroughly inspecting the level for safety reasons, and the Davis Cavern would still need to be pumped out separately, lab officials celebrated the major dewatering milestone with a multitude of congratulations.

June — With much fanfare

and congratulations, state and federal dignitaries joined philanthropist T. Denny Sanford and Sanford Lab officials at the 4,850-foot level of the Homestake Mine to celebrate its grand re-opening. Sanford Lab officials still have much work to complete before lab construction can begin, but the event marked the beginning of a new era as officials anticipated a state-run lab that would host groundbreaking science from all disciplines.

2010

February — In February, Sanford Lab Executive Director Ron Wheeler said the operation would be broke by the end of the year if the S.D. Legislature did not appropriate more funds for

written a book about neutrinos, and he appeared on the award-winning PBS television program NOVA to explain the exotic behavior of these elusive particles. Dr. Kayser will also talk about the pioneering neutrino research already performed at Homestake and how future research at the Sanford Lab could help explain the origin of mass and “why the universe contains something instead of nothing.”

The same cavern excavated for the Davis experiment in the 1960s has been enlarged and outfitted for the LUX dark matter detector. A new, adjacent cavern also has been excavated for the MAJORANA Demonstrator experiment, which will test technology to search for an extremely rare form of radioactive decay. Both experiments will advance our understanding of how the universe is made.

On Wednesday morning, South Dakota

Gov. Dennis Daugaard hosted a tour of the Davis Campus for invited dignitaries from around the nation — including philanthropist T. Denny Sanford, who donated $70 million to the project.

Guests also included representatives from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Department of Energy. The DOE currently funds operations at the Sanford Lab, through Berkeley Lab. The DOE also is considering how the Sanford Lab might host larger, longer-term experiments.

Dr. Kayser's talk is presented by the Sanford Lab and the Historic Homestake Opera House. The presentation will be preceded by a short slideshow of photos from the Davis Campus. There will also be a social hour at the Opera House, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., sponsored by Ainsworth-Benning Construction of Spearfish and the Lead Chamber of Commerce.

the project. The statement came after South Dakota Democrats twice blocked an effort to provide $5.4 million for lab operating funds.

lab. The study revealed that Homestake was still the best site for underground science due to its depth and suitability for sensitive experiments.

March — In March, the S.D. Legislature declared that the Sanford Lab would receive its $5.4 million in operating dollars.

Acknowledgement by the Department of Energy that the federal government must start planning for DUSEL and be ready to take over operations when the Sanford Lab runs out of state money in May of 2011 prompted legislators to change their minds.

In January, the Sanford Lab announced that excavation of the Davis Cavern was complete and that crews had turned their attention to applying shotcrete to the walls. Employees logged 33,000 hours to remove 17,000 tons of rock from Sanford's main underground campus.

December — In December the National Science Board, which governs the National Science Foundation's major expenditures, declared that the NSF would no longer pursue a project to build a Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory. With this announcement, the National Science Board called for the Department of Energy to take a more active role in the construction of such a facility.

2011

January — In January Dr. Kevin Lesko writes an open letter to supporters of the DUSEL project assuring them that the project to build an underground laboratory in Lead is “alive and well,” despite the National Science Board's decision to pull out of the project.

The Department of Energy forms a committee of scientists and engineers to study the feasibility of building an underground laboratory and to report the pros and cons of various sites for the

The National Research Council releases a report declaring that the United States must remain involved in underground research in order to remain competitive.

The report was very favorable toward the development of a Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory.

DUSEL officials announced that the National Science Foundation will award up to $4 million in funding that will be used to fund operations at the Sanford Lab. The funding will take care of pumping water and other associated costs after the lab runs out of state dollars in June, through September. The $4 million is intended to carry the lab operations as DUSEL officials consider lab stewardship options with the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy.

Despite the National Science Board's decision to pull out of the project, the DUSEL team was still contractually bound to deliver plans for a Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory. In July, the DUSEL team and its partners with the S.D. Science and Technology

Authority received a standing ovation from National Science Foundation officials when they presented their completed plans for the facility. In addition to construction-ready plans for science campuses at the 7,400 level, the 4,850 level and the surface, the plans also included ways to phase the project to meet budget constraints on the federal level.

July — In July, officials involved with the project to build the DUSEL unveil a new plan for construction of the Sanford Underground Research Facility.

The plan is a scaled-back version of the original DUSEL plans and includes developing one science campus 4,850 feet underground.

With the new plan, the DUSEL project is now known as the SURF. Spearfish construction company Ainsworth-Benning signs a $7.5 million contract to outfit the Davis Campus and transform it into a laboratory facility.

2012

May — On May 30, 2012, officials at the Sanford Lab dedicate the Davis Campus facility for science. Scientists with the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) dark matter detector and the MAJORANA Demonstrator neutrinoless double beta decay experiment plan to spend the rest of the year setting their experiments up underground for longterm occupancy of up to five years.

Information compiled from Black Hills Pioneer archives, the Homestake Visitor Center and the S.D. Science and Technology Authority.