LEAD - The director of Sanford Laboratory at Homestake pushed the button on a pump Friday morning, clearing another hurdle in the re-entry of the underground mine in Lead.

The button kicked on a water pump at the 1,250-foot level, sending water out of the mine for the first time in five years.

"This was the most important button I have ever pushed in my life," lab director Jose Alonso said.

The pump station was set in a surface water reservoir and quickly removed the water pooled there. Lab officials planned to have a formal public "turn on the pump" ceremony later in the day Friday but because the water pumped out so quickly, there wasn't anything left for later.

"We were too successful this morning," Alonso said.

Pumps are being installed at the 2,450-foot level and could be operational by April 9, Alonso said.

The announcement, made during the regular meeting of the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority board of directors, was met with applause. The authority is overseeing the development of the underground mine into a deep underground science and engineering laboratory.

The National Science Foundation has declared that Homestake is its preferred site for such a facility.

The mine closed in 2002. Since the NSF announcement, the science authority has hired contractors to install pumps to remove water that has accumulated inside the mine over the past five years.

Alonso credited mine crewmen Gary Lillehaug and Greg King for successfully installing the pumping system. Lillehaug is in the process of designing an automatic pump system that is activated by high water levels and shuts off when the sump goes dry.