Investigators say they have identified several areas at Canadian Forces Gagetown that could be chemical dump sites, but it will take more tests to find out for sure.

Col. Ryan Jestin, the base commander, says magnetic surveying of suspicious areas has turned up a dozen anomalies beneath the ground that may be used barrels of toxic defoliants such as Agent Orange.

Officials with MGI Ltd., the surveyors who carried out the magnetic imaging, say it's impossible to tell what the buried objects are, but the results have pinpointed potential hotspots that need to be excavated.

Jestin says the items could be anything from used artillery shells and old farm tractors to dump sites for empty chemical barrels.

Much of the sprawling military base in southern New Brunswick was farm land before it was expropriated by the Canadian government in the 1950s and turned into the training base.

Jestin says military weapons experts will examine the sites to make sure it's safe to start digging. He says the excavation will take another three to four weeks. Defoliants, including such powerful herbicides as Agent Orange and Agent Purple, were used to clear the training grounds at CFB Gagetown from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Hundreds of veterans and people who lived near the base during those years claim their health was harmed due to exposure to the dioxin-laden chemicals.

Jestin says the military is as anxious as anyone else to find out if there are lingering problems from the chemical sprays.