More than two decades after the Falklands Islands conflict between Britain and Argentina, clearing mines from the old battlefields is set to start with the award of a new contract to BACTEC International Ltd., officials said.

Clearance of mines from 117 mined areas was to have finished by March this year but Britain secured a 10-year extension for the project, arguing the task was too challenging to be completed within the timeframe.

Battle Area Clearance and Training Equipment Consultants International Ltd., based in Rochester, England, is a global operator with ongoing mine-clearance projects across the world. BACTEC won the bid while in competition with three other companies, the Falkland Islands News Network said.

The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office announced the contract was awarded after a "rigorous" procurement process, taking into account BACTEC's strong track record and work in more than 40 countries.

BACTEC experts have worked in the Falklands before, but the new contract marks the start of a long and expensive process of clearing the mines from large areas that were used by Falklanders or their livestock before the conflict.

The first of BACTEC's teams will arrive in late October and begin clearance of four sites at Surf Bay, Sapper Hill, Goose Green and Fox Bay East.

BACTEC experts include Zimbabwean mine-clearing experts who have worked on other sites across the world, most recently in Lebanon.

The mine-clearing operation is a potential boon to the local economy as BACTEC will tap local human resources for support staff.

Mine-clearing operations are scheduled to be completed by 2019, but official sources said further delays could not be ruled out.

The United Nations estimates about 70 countries face a significant landmine or explosive ordnance contamination problem, while a smaller number experience the threat to life and limb in a lesser degree.

BACTEC says that, in the period since 1991, it has cleared more than 500,000 landmines and thousands of tons of unexploded ordnance, cleared or verified in excess of 8,000,000 square meters of ordnance-contaminated land in 40 countries.

Britain and Argentina fought a war over the islands from April 2 to June 14, 1982, after Argentina seized the Falkland Islands and South George in a military operation.

The Falkland Islands, two large and many small islands in the South Atlantic Ocean east of Argentina, are still claimed by Buenos Aires as sovereign Argentine territory.

The war resulted in the deaths of 255 British and 649 Argentine soldiers, sailors and airmen, and three civilian Falklanders.

The conflict has left a deep impression on Argentine society, where mention of its losses still sparks more passionate reaction than in Britain, which secured a very public Argentine surrender, even though the war was never declared.

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