MV Miner removal to cost nearly $12M, says province

Removing the MV Miner wreck from the waters off Scatarie Island, Cape Breton, will cost nearly $12 million, the Nova Scotia government announced Friday.

Transportation Minister Geoff MacLellan says the salvage work will be done by Antigonish-based RJ MacIsaac Construction Ltd. and the ship is to be removed by November.

This comes as good news to fishermen and members of the Main-à-Dieu Community Development Association who have been working to get the derelict 223-metre freighter removed from the shore of Scatarie Island, a protected wilderness area.

The MV Miner broke its line and ran aground in September 2011 while being towed from Montreal to Turkey, where it was to be scrapped.

Seven companies bid on the salvage project earlier this year. The government says in a news release that a panel made up of provincial and federal officials reviewed the proposals.

The province says price, removal method, health and safety, the environment and worker accommodation were considered when awarding the contract. The work will cost an estimated $11.9 million, the province says.

In 2012, a New York-based salvage company promised to do the work, but after many delays accomplished nothing and eventually left.