Mine deal sealed; science experiments now being sought

Rapid City Journal ^ | 15 Apr 06 | Bill Harlan

[rellimpank]

RAPID CITY - One-hundred thirty years, almost to the day, after Fred and Moses Manuel staked their Homestake gold claim, Gov. Mike Rounds signed an agreement to take possession of the Homestake gold mine in Lead.

“This is a very special day for South Dakota,” Rounds said during a short signing ceremony in Rapid City on Friday morning.

The agreement transfers ownership of the mine from Homestake Mining Co. and its parent company, Barrick Gold Corp. of Toronto, to the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority.

Rounds and the state Legislature created the state Science and Technology Authority to be landlord of what they hope will become one of the deepest, most sophisticated underground science laboratories in the world.

[js1138]

science ping

[PatrickHenry]

Well, it's a slow weekend. I'll crank up the ping machine.

[PatrickHenry]

SciencePing

An elite subset of the Evolution list. See the list's explanation at my freeper homepage. Then FReepmail to be added or dropped.

[Mini-14]

The area is beautiful and and absolute gem of a place to live, if you can find a good job there.

[Virginia-American]

A gold mine in Lead? Sure they aren't alchemists?

[rellimpank]

--Lead is pronounced "leed" not "led" and refers to a mining term--

[VadeRetro]

The deal looks like a winner to me. The physics experiments are already designed and waiting.

[rellimpank]

http://www.leadmethere.org/


--For those interested--

[VadeRetro]

There's another treacherous name I didn't know.

I used to wonder how you pronounce "Minot" until there was bad flooding there 30 years ago. Then within a few days I heard Maureen Bunyan on WTOP guess "mee-know" (the Frenchy version) before any number of newscasters said "My-knot."

Lots of national newscasters don't know how to pronounce "Biloxi," though. I heard the mayor of the place calling it "Bluxey." Good enough for me.

On a fishing expedition, I guessed that Coloradans would call the "Cache la Poudre" River the "Powder." Wrong again. There's a Powder River up north of there. It's the "Pooder."

Sometimes you just have to hear somebody local.

[rellimpank]

--then there's Pierre, South Dakoa---

[rellimpank]

--aargh--Dakoa=Dakota

[null and void]

Beaufort.

[VadeRetro]

What's the catch? I would say "Pee-yare" before I could stop myself.

[VadeRetro]

I would naturally go froggy with "Bow-for'" but that's wrong, right?

[null and void]

Nothing, in Alaska the Beaufort Sea is the 'Bow-for' Sea.

OTOH, I was raised in Beaufort 'Beeeyoufirt' S.C. Beautiful Beaufort by the sea...

[null and void]

If South Dakota can't have a ocean, we should at least let them have a Pier...

[VadeRetro]

'Beeeyoufirt'

Ow! I wonder if they still talk about General Beeeyouregard?

[null and void]

Nope. He's Bowregard. *shrug*

[rellimpank]

--"peer" or "pier" (as in the thing that sticks out from a beach into the ocean) is correct--