By LeAnn R. Ralph
TOWN OF HOWARD — Northern Sands Wisconsin had no mining or other site disturbance in 2020 at the 1,310 acre Albertville Valley sand mine southeast of Colfax and no activity is expected in 2021.
“Mining activities have not been initiated, and the site remains undisturbed with respect to nonmetallic sand and gravel mining. In calendar year 2020, NSW did not conduct any mining activities,” according to an annual report from Northern Sands Wisconsin dated February 12 submitted to the Town of Howard.
“Currently, on-site activities are suspended until market conditions improve. Additional engineering toward processing plant/mine construction may proceed as equipment opportunities become available from other sand processing plants. Groundwater elevation monitoring will continue in 2021 as required by Chippewa County. NSW does not anticipate mine site disturbance to begin in 2021,” according to the report.
“NSW continues to advance mine planning and alternative strategies given the current market condition. Construction timing is dependent on market conditions and other business matters,” the report states.
Land use of the 1,310 acres remains “basically unchanged and consistent with the description presented in the nonmetallic mine reclamation plan (filed with Chippewa County),” according to the report.
Chippewa County approved a mine reclamation permit for the Albertville Valley sand mine in November of 2015.
The NSW report notes that timber harvesting took place on the Robert and Karla M. Rasmussen Trust properties and that the activities are purchase agreement conditions between the landowner and Northern Sands Wisconsin in which the landowner retained the logging rights.
The report also notes that Northern Sands Wisconsin and the Town of Howard reached an agreement to establish an escrow account that can be used for direct expenses incurred by the Town of Howard. The escrow account allows the Town of Howard to pay invoices for services related to oversight, which is consistent with the mine license.
The Howard Town Board approved a non-metallic mining license for Northern Sands Wisconsin to operate the Albertville Valley sand mine in January of 2019.
Groundwater
Monitoring wells have been installed on property owned by Northern Sands Wisconsin, Olav and Gail C. Svee Trust, Robert and Karla M. Rasmussen Trust, Lee D. and James R. Jensen, Robert G. and Lana M. Christoffel and D.R. Acres LLC.
According to information included with the report, the depth to groundwater has fluctuated to a greater or lesser degree since monitoring began in December of 2017.
In December of 2017, the depth to groundwater in feet from the top of the well casing was 28.47 on the Northern Sands Wisconsin property (Bethmann), was 29.68 feet on the Svee property, was 21.6 on the Rasmussen property and was 35.24 feet on the Jensen property.
In December of 2018, the depth to the groundwater had increased by 3.06 feet to 31.53 on the Northern Sands property, had increased by by 2.5 feet to 32.18 on the Svee property, had increased by 4.19 feet on the Rasmussen property to 25.79 and had increased by 3.74 feet to 39.98 on the Jensen property.
In December of 2019, the depth to the groundwater had decreased to 27.67 feet on the Northern Sands property, had decreased to 29.72 feet on the Svee property, had decreased to 20.54 feet on the Rasmussen property and had decreased to 34.59 feet on the Jensen property.
In December of 2020, the depth to the groundwater decreased again to nearly the original levels in 2017, with only a few inches of difference, on the Northern Sands, Svee, Rasmussen and Jensen properties.
In December of 2018, the depth to the groundwater at the Christoffel property was 8.58 feet, which decreased to 7.04 feet in December of 2019 and increased to 8.08 feet in December of 2020.
At the D.R. Acres site, the depth to the groundwater was 32.71 feet in December of 2018, was 30.08 feet in December of 2019 and was 30.77 feet in December of 2020.
At a second Svee property, the depth to the groundwater was 24.65 feet in December of 2018, was 21.92 feet in December of 2019 and was 22.81 feet in December of 2020.
