Homestake Mine - Lead, South Dakota
Posted by: 
oiseau_ca
N 44° 21.133 W 103° 45.821
13T E 598532 N 4911737
a famous closed mine located in the town of Lead, South Dakota, USA
Waymark Code: WMMM99
Location: South Dakota, United States
Date Posted: 10/07/2014
Views: 15
According to Wikipedia, "the Homestake Mine was a deep underground gold mine located in Lead, South Dakota. Until it closed in 2002 it was the largest and deepest gold mine in North America. The mine produced more than 40 million ounces (approximately 1.25 million kilograms) of gold during its lifetime. The Homestake Mine is famous in scientific circles for being the site at which the solar neutrino problem was first discovered. This became known as the Homestake Experiment. The deep underground laboratory was set up by Raymond Davis Jr. in the mid-1960s to become the first experiment to observe solar neutrinos.
On July 10, 2007, the mine was selected by the National Science Foundation as the location for the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL), winning out over several candidates including the Henderson Mine near Empire, Colorado.
The Homestake deposit was discovered by Fred and Moses Manuel, Alex Engh and Hank Harney in April 1876, during the Black Hills Gold Rush. A trio of mining entrepreneurs, George Hearst, Lloyd Tevis, and James Ben Ali Haggin, bought it from them for $70,000 the following year. George Hearst arrived at the mine in October 1877, and took active control of the property. Hearst had to haul in all the mining equipment by wagons from the nearest railhead in Sidney, Nebraska. Arthur De Wint Foote worked as an engineer. Despite the remote location, an 80-stamp mill began crushing Homestake ore in July 1878.
The partners sold shares in the Homestake Mining Company, and listed it on the New York Stock Exchange in 1879. The Homestake would become one of the longest-listed stocks in the history of the NYSE (Con Edison's original name was New York Gas Light and was listed in 1824.
The gold ore mined at Homestake was considered low grade (less than one ounce per ton), but the body of ore was very large. Through 2001, the mine produced 39.8 million ounces of gold and 9 million ounces of silver. In terms of total production, the Lead mining district, of which the Homestake mine is the only producer, was the second-largest gold producer in the United States, after the Carlin district in Nevada.
The Homestake mine ceased production at the end of 2001. Reasons included low gold prices, poor ore quality, and high costs. The Barrick Gold Corporation (which had merged with the Homestake Mining Company in mid-2001) agreed in early 2002 to keep dewatering the mine as DUSEL negotiations proceeded, but as progress was slow and maintaining the pumps and ventilation was costing $250,000 per month, switched them off on June 10, 2003 and closed the mine completely.
In June 2009, researchers at Berkeley announced that Homestake would be reopened for scientific research on neutrinos and dark matter particles using DUSEL and Large Underground Xenon Detector".
Source: Wikipedia & so on.
Mine Type: Tourist Mine
Mineral Collecting: Not Known
Material Mined: Precious Metal
Operation: Underground Mine
Surface Features: Yes
KNOWN DANGERS:
none
Any associated website: [Web Link]
Any Other information:
The Homestake Visitor Center provides captivating surface tours that explore the historic town of Lead and both Homestake Gold Mine's underground and surface operations. It also offers free viewing of the historic 1876 Open Cut mining area, artifacts, an informational mining video, historic and educational memorabilia and a gift shop.
160 West Main Street, Lead, South Dakota
|
Visit Instructions:
Optional photograph welcomed.