Preparatory salvage work continues on MV Miner

SCATARIE ISLAND, N.S. -- The head of the salvage company planning to remove a ship that ran aground off Cape Breton a year ago says preparatory work is continuing at the site.

Abe Shah, of New York-based Bennington Group, says the company has also nearly completed building the first of two barges that will be used to haul away large sections of the MV Miner.

Shah says the barge, which is being built in Sydney, N.S., is scheduled to arrive at the Scatarie Island site on Tuesday.

He says the barge will transport heavy equipment to be used in the cutting of the 230-metre long bulk carrier.

Shah says the heavy salvage work should begin sometime soon after the arrival of the first barge, weather permitting.

Under a provincial permit, the company has until Dec. 1 to remove the derelict ship, which ran aground while being towed to a scrapyard in Turkey.

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  MV Miner ran aground off Scatarie Island, a provincially designated wilderness management area, on Sept. 20., 2011. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/ho-Nova Scotia government)