[DUSELScience] Homestake Underground Lab Request for Letters of Interest

[Kevin Lesko]

Dear Colleagues,
The South Dakota Science and Technology Authority (SDSTA) is pleased  
to announce that an agreement has been reached with Barrick Gold  
Corporation to transfer the Homestake Mine to the SDSTA.  The South  
Dakota Legislature recently appropriated an additional $19.9 million  
for the establishment of the Homestake Deep Underground Science and  
Engineering Laboratory. With this appropriation, a total of $45.6  
million is available for the development and operation of the  
Homestake Underground Laboratory.
It is the intention of the SDSTA to develop Homestake in a manner  
that will make it competitive with other research sites in the  
world.  Homestake will provide the scientific community an  
opportunity to conduct experiments at a location in the U.S. that is,  
initially, the second deepest site in the world and which offers a  
short timeline to science.  The SDSTA plans to open the 4850 ft level  
and some higher levels for beneficial occupancy in early 2007 for  
scientific and engineering experiments and other technical uses. The  
funds available from the State of South Dakota will cover  
rehabilitation and basic laboratory operations into 2012.
The SDSTA is now soliciting Letters of Interest for uses of the  
Homestake Lab. These non-binding Letters will help us establish the  
facility requirements and to work proactively with the proponents to  
ensure that Homestake fulfills their needs and is competitive with  
alternative sites.

Scientific users include physics experiments requiring overburden for  
shielding against cosmic rays and geology and earth science  
experiments that make use of Homestake's large accessible rock mass  
and its drill core archive. Education and outreach efforts,  
industrial applications, engineering, mining technology, mine  
training and underground safety are are encouraged to consider the  
benefits of a large secure campus with depths ultimately to 8000 feet  
(~7200 mwe) or more below the surface.

These Letters will be used as input to the Conceptual Design Report  
planning process of the National Science Foundation's DUSEL  
solicitation process.  The Letters will aide in establishing the  
facility requirements in the short-term scientific program as well as  
providing valuable information in establishing the longer-term  
requirements, timelines, and laboratory development plans.

Information on the Call for Letters of Interest can be found at:

http://neutrino.lbl.gov/Homestake/LOI

David Snyder
Executive Director of the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority
     and
Kevin T. Lesko
Principal Investigator for the Homestake DUSEL Proposal

*********

Kevin T.  
Lesko                                                           
KTLesko at lbl.gov
Institute for Nuclear and Particle Astrophysics   Tel: (510) 486-7731
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory             FAX: (510) 486-6738
1 Cyclotron Road, MS 50R5008                           http:// 
ktlesko.lbl.gov
Berkeley, CA 94720-8158, USA


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