HALIFAX - A financially troubled paper mill in Cape Breton was granted a two-month extension of its creditor protection Wednesday as the number of potential buyers for the shuttered operation was whittled down.

A lawyer representing Ernst & Young, the court-appointed monitor handling the sale of the NewPage Port Hawkesbury mill, told the Nova Scotia Supreme Court that the list of qualified bidders is down from 21 to 14.

Liz Pillon said bids will be finalized by Oct. 14 and the monitor and the company will then narrow that group to a pair of finalists. She said those bidders will then continue negotiations with the union, the provincial government and the company, with the monitor overseeing the process.

During Wednesday's hearing, Judge David MacAdam also extended the Point Tupper mill's creditor protection until Dec. 9.

The mill was shut down last month after struggling with soaring fuel and electricity costs, a strong Canadian dollar and declining demand. It lost US$50 million over the last year, according to an affidavit NewPage filed with the court.

MacAdam also ruled that the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union would represent about 1,100 current and former members of the local who are beneficiaries of NewPage's pension plan as talks with potential buyers continue.

Ernst & Young initially raised concerns in a report on Monday over a proposal the union be the only representative for both the retirees and the current workers. But union lawyers said Wednesday that pensioners could bring their concerns to the court if they felt they weren't being represented properly.

Outside court, Archie MacLachlan, a spokesman for the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union, said he will battle hard to preserve the pension and to protect the rights of both retirees and current union members.

He said he is confident the mill will continue operating and the pension will be preserved.

"We have a lot of confidence in our paper mills," he said. "The fact you have the number of companies interested in purchasing it suggests we have a good asset there and they have a real interest in operating it."

The mill has the capacity to produce 545,000 tonnes of paper a year, and has been an economic mainstay in the community of Point Tupper for the past five decades.

The company also owns about 20,000 hectares of land and its woodlands operations have provided employment to about 400 forestry workers.

Pillon said Ernst & Young is aiming to have a sale of the plant completed by the end of November.