South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds, center, and T. Denny Sanford, right, a South Dakota businessman and philanthropist exit the elevator cage Monday, June 22, 2009, at the 4,850 foot level of the future Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory, for which the latter has pledged $70 million. It was Sanford's first trip ever down into the former Homestake Gold Mine at Lead, S. D. Rod Hanson, an infrastructure technician at the mine stands at left. The two have worked closely to establish the new science laboratory. The gold mine that was the site of Nobel Prize-winning research decades ago is coming out of scientific retirement, as crews officially began work Monday under the Black Hills on what will be the world's deepest laboratory, where scientists hope to prove the existence of dark matter. AP Photo logo AP Photo 5 months ago

South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds, center, and T. Denny Sanford, right, a South Dakota businessman and philanthropist exit the elevator cage Monday, June 22, 2009, at the 4,850 foot level of the future Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory, for which the latter has pledged $70 million. It was Sanford's first trip ever down into the former Homestake Gold Mine at Lead, S. D. Rod Hanson, an infrastructure technician at the mine stands at left. The two have worked closely to establish the new science laboratory. The gold mine that was the site of Nobel Prize-winning research decades ago is coming out of scientific retirement, as crews officially began work Monday under the Black Hills on what will be the world's deepest laboratory, where scientists hope to prove the existence of dark matter.

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