Katahdin Paper Co. has suspended the closure of its mill in Millinocket for at least another week, and could sign a deal within a month to build a biomass boiler that would allow the mill to reopen, union officials told the Bangor Daily News.

Workers at the Millinocket mill, which was scheduled to close today, will complete work orders this week and prepare to mothball the mill, United Steelworkers Local 152 President Louis Ouellette told the newspaper. Ouellete said the mill will be left in a state to be restarted quickly since the mill could reopen as early as April 2009.

The number of layoffs at the mill is still unknown. The Millinocket mill has 208 employees, but as many as 100 of them will move to Katahdin Paper's East Millinocket mill and bump employees that have less seniority, Ouellette told the paper.