RUMFORD – NewPage’s oldest paper-making machine will be shut down permanently next month, taking with it 60 jobs.

Mill spokesman Tony Lyons said the No. 11 paper machine, built in 1923 when the mill was operated by the Oxford Paper Co., had been temporarily shut down four times during the past five years.

At the time, the machine was shut down because of poor market conditions in the industry. This time, it will be shut down permanently because it is part of the so-called integration process involved with NewPage Corp. taking over Stora Enso North America last month.

The number of people who will lose jobs will likely be fewer than the 60 positions being eliminated, Lyons said, because of an early-retirement buyout plan.

Under it, employees 60 or over who decide to participate will receive $46 per month for each year of service to the mill. Also, he said the mill is extending medical benefits at the existing level for 18 months.

“The vast majority (of workers) have been here a long time,” Lyons said.

For an employee to take advantage of the early-retirement benefit, he or she must be vested in the pension system for a minimum of five years. Lyons said 70 employees are eligible. They have until March 7 to decide whether to take it, he said.

“This will give employees time to talk with their spouses,” he said.

Included in the 60 lost jobs are five to seven salaried positions. Those jobs will be eliminated because of consolidations.

Gary Hemingway, president of Local 900, views the job losses and early-retirement offer as a fair plan.

“It does help those who are near retirement,” he said Wednesday.

Hemingway was anticipating some sort of job loss after NewPage bought the four Stora Enso mills.

“We expected it, but not this soon. We had already been notified that machines No. 11 and No. 12 were the weakest and smallest,” he said.

He couldn’t estimate how many hourly employees will take advantage of the early-retirement plan.

“This is unfortunate news that underscores the difficult economy the state is dealing with right now,” said Gov. John Baldacci in a prepared statement.

The state Department of Labor is actively working to assist the mill workers, Baldacci said.

Lyons said when the mill took over Stora Enso, some sort of integration process was expected within 30 to 45 days. NewPage bought the Finland-based firm on Dec. 28. No other changes are expected, he said.

Hemingway said he is scheduling meetings for people losing their jobs to discuss eligibility for the federal Training Adjustment Act. Benefits from the TAA will apply for those who lose their jobs outright, as well as for those who take advantage of early retirement.

Under the plan to shut down the No. 11 paper machine, as well as other machines in mills scattered around the country, an increase in paper production of 3 to 8 percent is expected.

“Other machines will be manufacturing heavier grades of paper and increasing production such that 2008 will result in manufacturing the same amount as in 2007,” he said.

Town Manager Jim Doar was disappointed that one of the machines will be shut down, but he was also optimistic about the future.

“They are committed to their employees by offering a generous retirement package that will lessen the impact. It is a testament to the strength and productivity of the Rumford mill that this closure is the smallest of the four announced,” he said.

Also impacted, according to a news release issued by NewPage, are a pulp mill and two paper machines in Niagara, Wis., resulting in the loss of 319 jobs, closure of a paper machine at a mill in Kimberly, Wis., that will affect 125 employees, and permanent closure of a converting facility mill in Chillicothe, Ohio, leaving 160 people without work.

NewPage is based in Miamisburg, Ohio.