2nd Deep Shaft Reopened At Old Gold Mine In SD

DIRK LAMMERS

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Crews pumping water out of the Sanford Underground Laboratory in Lead have reopened a second deep shaft that eventually will be used as the primary entrance and exit for science experiments.

The South Dakota Science and Technology Authority is rehabilitating the former Homestake gold mine and reopening the 4,850-foot level as an underground lab.

For the first time Thursday, crews were able to use the Yates shaft to send a cage down to that level, providing a new second exit for lab technicians who have been using the Ross shaft.

Crews rehabilitating the future lab space had had a second exit that used a series of underground ramps going from level to level.

"It was kind of a walking secondary access," lab spokesman Bill Harlan said. "Now it's much faster."

The steel Ross shaft is about a half-mile from the area to be used for the large experiments, while the Yates shaft is "right around the corner" from the Davis Cavern, once the site of Nobel Prize-winning physics research, Harlan said.