At one time the largest and deepest gold mine in North America, the Homestake Mine in Lead, South Dakota is currently being used for scientific research.

In the late 60's, Raymond Davis, Jr. and John N. Bahcall conducted the Homestake experiment, where they deduced that neutrinos were one third the previous expected mass. Further reproductions of the experiment in Japan, Russia, Italy, and Canada led to the conclusion that solar neutrinos have three different oscillations. This work led to the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physics, which Davis shared with Masatoshi Koshiba of Japan.

Neutrino research continues at the location. 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).

The mine has limited viewing and a visitor's center, with above and below ground tours.

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