Stawell lab developments

Municipal leaders are keen for the general public to hear firsthand the latest developments surrounding a Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory.

Northern Grampians Shire Council is encouraging its residents to attend a community information briefing at Stawell Town Hall on July 29.

The council is also keen for people to hear about some of the opportunities and benefits that will arise from the project.

Professor Jeremy Mould, Emeritus Professor Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing at Swinburne University of Technology, will outline project status during the briefing.

The event will be from 5.30pm to 7.30pm in the town hall’s community meeting space.

The project involves construction of a specialist laboratory more than one kilometre underground at Stawell Gold Mine as part of ground-breaking research into dark matter. Laboratory construction is set on the back of $5-million in Federal Government funding.

The laboratory will also have capabilities for use in a broad range of other scientific research. This includes biological and cancer research such as looking at how cells respond to low radiation environments, and a range of other biology geosciences and engineering research activities.

The council is keen to work with its community to unlock opportunities the laboratory will present, such as in education and tourism.

Mayor Kevin Erwin said the laboratory was one of the few of its kind in the world and the only one in the southern hemisphere.

“We hope to see as many community members at the session as possible to see where the project is up to, and to see what it can do for Stawell, and in particular, the young people of Stawell,” he said.