REPRESENTATIVES and key stakeholders signed a memorandum of understanding for the new Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory on Friday.
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The Victorian government, Northern Grampians Shire Council, Newmarket Gold-Stawell Gold Mines and Melbourne University gathered at the gold mine for the signing, with the works likely to commence within a year.
The project will bring significant economic benefits to the region with the creation of 19 construction jobs, of which 15 will be full-time positions.
Victorian Minister for Regional Development Jaala Pulford said despite the long wait, the light at the end of the tunnel was starting to become visible.
“The council and the science and research community will bring this project to fruition, but I think construction will happen over the next year,” she said.
It is expected the project will bring hundreds of people to the region, generating a significant boost to the local economy.
Senior physics lecturer at Melbourne University Phillip Urquijo said the mine was a perfect location to carry out the dark matter research.
“We were looking for a site that had to be around about a kilometre deep in order to block out any possible cosmic radiation,” he said.
“There aren’t so many deep mines that have such good access as Stawell Gold Mine. “It just turned out it was just the right time, as the owners of the gold mine were looking at other opportunities to utilise the area as well.”
The underground mine site is surrounded by solid basalt, which provides a shield that will allow the project to be carried out in relative safety and minimise the chance of interference from external elements.
The $3.5-million dollar project will involve scientists from Swinburne University and Melbourne University.
Interest from international scientists is also growing, including scientists from Princeton University and the Gran Sasso Laboratory in Italy.
Dark matter is a substance that has evaded scientists, with considerable effort and money directed to trying to investigate the relationship between gravity and the mysterious particles.
If this project is successful, then they will be able to compare results in the Northern Hemisphere to the results found at Stawell, which will be significant given the seasonal differences between the two locations.
