Equipment at Watson Island will be auctioned off later this month.

Equipment at Watson Island will be auctioned off later this month.

Watson Island mill equipment being put up for auction

The decommissioning and rehabilitation of Watson Island is taking another step forward with an auction of the equipment later this month.

The decommissioning and rehabilitation of Watson Island is taking another step forward with an auction of the equipment scheduled later this month.

Aucto.com, an online industrial equipment sale site, will host an online auction of more than 1,000 pieces of equipment on Nov. 18 and 19. The auction itself is being undertaken by NRI Industrial, the sales division of NRI Global, which was awarded the contract to decommission the former pulp mill earlier this month. Among the pieces of equipment are large items such as the chlorine dioxide generating plant and bleach plant washers to small items such as tools, pumps, controls, valves and instrumentation.

Before the auction gets underway, NRI is welcoming interested buyers to visit the site and view the equipment from Nov. 11 to Nov. 17, although photos of the items can now be viewed at www.aucto.com.

The City of Prince Rupert, which took ownership of the site following a settlement agreement with past owners Sun Wave Forest Products, declined to comment on whether or not the money from the auction would go into city coffers or be split between the two organizations citing an agreed-upon confidentiality clause.

The Northern View