HALIFAX - The deadline has been extended for bidders seeking to buy a financially troubled paper mill in Cape Breton.
The deadline was supposed to be Friday, but the court-appointed monitor handling the sale of the NewPage Port Hawkesbury mill says that is now Oct. 24 at 5 p.m.
Last month, monitor Ernst & Young said the list of qualified bidders had been whittled down from 21 to 14, and that group would then be narrowed to a pair of finalists.
Archie MacLachlan, a vice-president with the Communication Energy and Paperworkers Union, says the extension is a good sign because it shows there is growing interest in the mill.
"The union's position all along is that we have two, very excellent paper machines here and have a lot of potential," he said in an interview.
The union represents about 1,100 current and former members who are beneficiaries of NewPage's pension plan.
The mill was shut down and placed under creditor protection last month after the company reported it could no longer cope with rising fuel and electricity costs and a strong Canadian dollar amid declining demand.
