By Dirk Lammers, Associated Press
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Far below the Black Hills of South Dakota, crews are building the world’s deepest underground science lab at a depth equivalent to more than six Empire State buildings — a place uniquely suited to scientists’ quest for mysterious particles known as dark matter.
Scientists, politicians and other officials gathered Monday for a groundbreaking of sorts at a lab 4,850 foot below the surface of an old gold mine that was once the site of Nobel Prize-winning physics research.
“This is a great moment in the history of South Dakota and in the history of underground science,” Gov. Mike Rounds said of the official start of the Sanford lab project. He credited Barrick Corp. for giving the mine to the state, the Legislature for approving $34.2 million to reopen the mine, and Sioux Falls banker T. Denny Sanford for agreeing to donate $70 million for the project.
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