The downtime will begin September 10 for the mill's PM1 newsprint machine and September 16 for the PM2 supercalendered machine, Pulp & Paper Canada reports. About 600 direct employees will be laid off, but spokesperson Patricia Dietz told the Cape Breton Post that the machinery will be maintained so that it would be ready for restart."It's an indefinite shutdown but it would be ready for restart at any time, that's the good news part of it."The Port Hawkesbury mill was built by in th 1960s by Swedish Stora, and from 1999 owned by Stora Enso after the merger between Stora and Enso.There is no information on how the shutdown of the mill will affect the construction of a biomass power generation facility being built at the site. The biomass power plant will be owned by Nova Scotia Power and operated by NewPage Port Hawkesbury, according to Pulp & Paper Canada./AA