The Buffalo County Board of Adjustment has approved a frac sand mining operation along State Highway 37 south of Mondovi.
            
The 3-member zoning panel unanimously approved three permits for adjacent landowners to do surface mining of some 171 acres.  The JLS Sands project developed by Glacier Sands of Menomonie includes landowners Roger and Sally Larson, William Stanton and Dean and Glenn Johnson, all of Mondovi.
            
The board of adjustment issued 20-year permits with as many as 50 operating conditions attached to them.  One of two proposed truck routes was changed so sand trucks will go to Wabasha instead of Winona.

 The zoning board's action came a day after the Buffalo County Board authorized a 6-month extension of a mining permit moratorium due to expire on Oct. 31st.  The JLS Sands permits were submitted to Buffalo County prior tof a 7-month moratorium imposed in late March. The extended moratorium now runs until May 1st.
             
The trio of permits raised the county's total number of approved frac-sand mining permits to nine.