A recent contract to determine the properties of rock at the 4,850-foot level of the former Homestake gold mine has been completed, and Dr. Kevin Lesko, lead scientist for the proposal to build an estimated $550 million federal underground lab in Lead, said he will be in town this week to meet with his Large Cavity Advisory Board to plan the next move. The Large Cavity Advisory Board is comprised of four world experts in underground excavation. Its purpose is to plan construction for a large cavity that is 165-170 feet in length — larger than all the faces of Mount Rushmore. The space will house a neutrino experiment that will shoot a beam of the tiny, elusive particles from Fermilab in Chicago to the 4,850-foot level of the lab. Inside the massive cavity scientists will study the properties of neutrinos in what has been dubbed the Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment. The experiment is one of the largest planned for the DUSEL, and one which has wide-reaching support from multiple agencies and national labs.

RESPEC, a national firm with offices in Rapid City, recently completed its contract to study the rock quality, rock characteristics, presence of water in the rock, and other factors which will impact the large cavity excavation at the former Homestake gold mine. S.D. School of Mines and Technology faculty Elvis Lisenbee and Mike Terry were also involved in developing a geological model through the RESPEC contract.

Following the meetings this week Lesko said the DUSEL team will determine what its next step will be for planning the large cavity construction, which will be a major part of the DUSEL project.

The proposal to build a deep underground science and engineering laboratory in Lead — with campuses all the way down to 7,400 feet — is expected to be submitted to the National Science Foundation at the end of this year. Afterward, the National Science Board will review the proposal to determine whether it will be submitted to Congress for funding approval. If it is approved, construction for the project could start as early as 2013. If approved, the deep underground science and engineering laboratory at Homestake will be built with campuses down to the 7,400-foot level, which will make it the deepest underground lab in the world.