Web posted Thursday, December 6, 2001

Historic Mine Winding Down Operations

By JOE KAFKA Associated Press Writer

PIERRE -- The last gold ore will be scraped from the tunnels of the legendary Homestake Mine on Dec. 14, mine superintendent Steve Job said Wednesday.

Mining operations have been winding down for more than a year in preparation to close the nation's most famous gold mine. Gold was first discovered at the site on April 9, 1876.

Company officials made the decision to close the mine when it began losing money. About 2.7 million pounds of gold have been recovered from the mine, or 10 percent of all the gold ever found in the United States.

Job said 249 employees are still on the payroll. Homestake had more than 2,100 workers at its peak in 1940; employee numbers have fluctuated greatly over the years in relation to the economics of the gold industry.

Miners are in good spirits as the end draws near, Job said.

''These guys have a good feeling about finishing the mine up ... that we're not going down crippled. We're actually closing with flying colors,'' Job said.

Discontinuing costly exploration activities and concentrating only on recovery of the mine's known reserves in the past year has allowed the company to make money while preparing to close mining operations.

Job, who transferred from a Homestake operation in British Columbia last spring to oversee the mining shutdown, had earlier worked in the mine for 20 years. His father, Marvin, worked in it for 38 years.

''It's a touching time to see that the mine is really finishing. I have very close ties to it,'' said the younger Job, who will be done with his chores in Lead on Jan. 11 and then return to Canada.

Marvin Job, 73, who retired from the mine in 1992 and lives now at Spearfish, said the end of the Homestake Mine was inevitable.

''It's kind of sad, but everybody knew it was coming eventually,'' he said. ''The ore grade is getting lower all the time, and the price of gold is not coming up. So, it was bound to happen.''

Although mining operations will cease, Homestake has agreed to donate the 8,000-foot-deep mine for transformation into an astrophysics lab. A $281 million proposal has been submitted to the National Science Foundation.

Sherry Farwell, dean of graduate education at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City, said the proposal has received favorable marks from independent scientists who have reviewed it. Farwell is one of those helping spearhead the laboratory effort.

''The technical merit of the project was deemed very good,'' he said. ''Impact upon the nation, not just the science, was deemed outstanding in science education and in public perception of science and bringing science to a larger audience.''

NSF will weigh the project against other major scientific proposals and is not likely to make its final decision for a year or so, said Farwell, a former NSF official.

Although mining operations will end shortly, the mine and its utility systems will remain open indefinitely. Pumps that keep the mine from flooding will not be turned off.

The Homestake Mine has been operated almost continuously for more than 125 years. All gold mining was halted by the government for nearly three years during World War II.

-- Anonymous, December 07, 2001