SYDNEY (CP) — Devco has budgeted $16 million this year for remediation work at Cape Breton mine sites.

The bulk of the money will be spent at the former coal preparation plant in Victoria Junction.

Board chairman Gordon MacInnis says the remediation work is being managed by Public Works and Government Services Canada, and includes a $10-million expenditure last fiscal year. Besides the capping of the mine waste dump at the Victoria Junction plant, work is underway at the former Princess colliery site in Sydney Mines and the Summit in New Waterford.

Eighty-five per cent of the money spent last year had an element of local content by Nova Scotia companies. After the last coal mine closed five years ago, Devco began operating under a new mandate related to divestiture and dissolution. MacInnis expects it will take another five years to complete the remediation of all the properties.