Pulp and paper giant AbitibiBowater is putting three inactive sawmills in Quebec on the selling block in hopes of emerging from bankruptcy protection.

The Montreal-based company announced late last week that as of Monday, it would give itself six weeks to find buyers for mills in Roberval, Saint-Fulgence and Lebel-sur-Quévillon. The mills have been temporarily closed since last year.

The company filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States and Canada last April. Company spokesperson Pierre Choquette said the sale of three mills would help AbitibiBowater restructure.

"The bidding process itself is a requirement, because we're under restructuring right now, so we need to make sure we get the best value possible at the end of the process," Choquette said.

Choquette said that under the rules of bankruptcy protection, a court would need to approve any sale.

Choquette said there are no immediate plans to close the mills for good if they don't sell within six weeks. He would not rule out, however, that they won't be closed.

Union officials told CBC News that the sooner the three mills are sold, the better.

Denis Labeaume, head of the union for the Roberval mill, said it's time things moved forward. He said he doesn't expect the mill to close under a new buyer.

Earlier this month, AbitibiBowater's United Kingdom subsidiary, Bridgewater Paper Company, announced it was laying off more than 250 workers in Liverpool. Bridgewater said it would stop production while it searched for a buyer.

In February 2009, AbitibiBowater shut down its paper mill in Grand Falls-Windsor, ending a century of operations in central Newfoundland.

The company closed eight Canadian pulp mills in 2007, including operations in Mackenzie, B.C., Quebec and New Brunswick.

AbitibiBowater owns or operates more than 20 pulp and paper mills and 30 wood products plants in Canada, the U.S., U.K., and South Korea.

It is the eighth-largest publicly traded pulp and paper manufacturer in the world.