Northern Sands Wisconsin installs monitoring wells for Albertville Valley sand mine

By LeAnn R. Ralph

TOWN OF HOWARD —  Northern Sands Wisconsin has installed four groundwater monitoring wells in the first phase of the proposed 1,300-acre Albertville Valley sand mine southeast of Colfax.

The Howard Town Board received reports about the monitoring wells and mine-related information during the public comments portion of the December 5 meeting.

Lee Boland, a Town of Colfax resident in Dunn County who lives just across the road from the proposed mine site, noted it is incorrect to refer to the company as Northern Sands.

Northern Sands was the name of the first company to propose the mine and was also the company that applied for a mine reclamation permit from Chippewa County land conservation and forest management. The company is now Northern Sands Wisconsin LLC and was incorporated in September of this year, Boland said.

Northern Oak Proppants LLC filed a lawsuit against Northern Sands LLC in Chippewa County August 15 of this year for breach of contract and is seeking $1.875 million plus interest.

The summons and complaint for the lawsuit lists Northern Oak Proppants as having an address in Minneapolis, while Northern Sands is listed as having an address in Winona, Minnesota.

Under the terms of the development agreement, Northern Oak Proppants paid Northern Sands $1.5 million as an “initial contribution,” and in turn, Northern Sands was to secure a mine licensing permit from the Town of Howard on or before August 31, 2015.

The nonmetallic mine reclamation permit from Chippewa County required Northern Sands to complete an assessment of the biological resources at the mine site along with an inventory of the seeps, springs, wetlands and surface waters located within the mine boundaries and adjacent properties.

The original deadline for submitting the reports was July 31, 2016, although the deadline was subsequently extended to December 31, 2017.

The proposed 1,300-acre mine site stretches north and south along the Chippewa County and Dunn County line directly east of the intersection of county Highway N and county Highway A.

Boland said he had asked Dan Masterpole of Chippewa County land conservation whether the mine reclamation permit issued to Northern Sands could be transferred to Northern Sands Wisconsin and whether it is legal for a separate corporation to operate under a mine reclamation permit issued to a different company.

Chippewa County’s corporation counsel is researching the issue, Boland said.

Monitoring wells

Eric Suvada, town patrolman who also oversees the exploration boreholes in the township, said that as of the December 5 meeting, two of the four monitoring wells had been installed, and the remaining two monitoring wells were expected to be installed by the end of the week.

The address for Northern Sands Wisconsin on the application for a nonmetallic mine exploration license from the Town of Howard is in Eau Claire on Hastings Way.

Northern Sands Wisconsin applied for the mine exploration license to drill boreholes for the primary purpose of installing the required monitoring well network.

The monitoring wells were installed on land owned by John R. and Nan Torgerson Bethmann; Olav and Gail C. Svee Trust; Robert and Karla Rasmussen; and Lee Jensen.

Chippewa County has approved the number and location of the monitoring wells as part of the required “life of mine” (LOM) monitoring network described in the NR135 mine reclamation permit. The four groundwater monitoring wells will provide access to allow LOM groundwater sampling and measurements of groundwater elevation, according to the application for the permit.

The depth to groundwater on the Bethmann property is 40 feet, and the monitoring well goes to a depth of 48 feet.

The depth to groundwater on the Svee property is 74 feet, and the monitoring well goes to a depth of 83 feet.

The depth to groundwater on the Rasmussen property is 22 feet, and the monitoring well goes to a depth of 29 feet.

The depth to groundwater on the Jensen property is 69 feet, and the monitoring well goes to a depth of 78 feet.

The monitoring wells are 1.5 inch PVC pipe that will allow samples of groundwater to be collected, Suvada said.

“They are following all of the rules and regulations and have all of their permits,” noted Vernon Schindler, chair of the Town of Howard.

Ordinance

Ron Koshoshek, the Town of Howard’s mining consultant, said he planned to meet with Tom Gapinske of Northern Sands Wisconsin the next day to go through the township’s nonmetallic mine licensing ordinance.

Tom Zwiefelhofer, town supervisor, wanted to know how Northern Sands Wisconsin knew where to install the monitoring wells.

The location of the monitoring wells was according to an agreement with Chippewa County land conservation, Koshoshek said.

The test wells are located in the perimeter of the first phase, he said.

Dennis Dvoracek, town supervisor, wanted to know how many residents were close to the areas proposing to be mined.

All together, there are four pages of names of property owners who are adjacent to where the company wants to mine but who are not associated with the mining operation, Koshoshek said.

Surveys

The vegetation survey must be completed, but it is not the right time of year to survey vegetation, Koshoshek said.

Several areas of the report that must be filed with Chippewa County have not yet been completed, Boland said.

The previous deadline for the survey reports was in July of 2016. The deadline was extended to December 31 for the reports to be submitted to Chippewa County, Koshoshek noted.

“I do not see how they can get done with the surveys and the reports by the deadline,” he said.

At the Howard Town Board’s November meeting, Gapinske was accompanied by two other investors for Northern Sands Wisconsin. Rick Kekula has a background in real estate and construction insurance, and Robin Koth has dealt with commercial real estate for 40 years.

Two of the men who were at the November meeting, plus a third investor, were named in the lawsuit asking for $1.8 million, Koshoshek said.

Paul Van Eijl, the former property acquisitions manager for Northern Sands who signed the mine reclamation permit as president of the company, has been a cause of concern for the Howard Town Board and some township residents.

The company has “new leadership” and Van Eijl is not associated with the company, Gapinske told the town board at the November meeting.

Northern Sands LLC and Ahlgrimm Explosives Company, Inc. were fined a total of $26,000 in June of 2016 for failing to properly abandon 25 frac sand boreholes in the Town of Howard.