Union officials, in talks with Blue Mountain Lumber managers over job losses at the West Otago sawmill, claim to have saved at least five jobs from the chop and hope to table other options for saving more.
But mill bosses said they were still working through various scenarios and it was still unclear exactly how many staff would be made redundant.
That news is expected to be delivered to all staff some time tomorrow afternoon.
Yesterday's offer by the Government to provide financial help for employers to retain staff was also thrown into the mix but that is not expected to change the minds of mill managers, who say the cuts are needed to safeguard the plant's long-term future.
Employees at the mill, owned by Auckland-based Winstone Pulp International, were told on Tuesday of plans to shed 65 jobs.
National Distribution Union officials, who represent 23 mill employees, met their members on site yesterday morning.
Union spokesman Ken Young said workers were "annoyed and unhappy" at the prospect of losing their jobs.
He claimed the figure of 65 job losses had already dropped to 60 after talks yesterday morning and he hoped the final tally would drop even further before a final number was confirmed by management tomorrow.
Potential job-saving options, including retaining some staff on the Government's planned nine-day fortnight, would be "thrown on the table" as the union explored all possible avenues to keep the final job casualties as light as possible.
But Mr Young also took a swipe at the wider timber industry, which had ignored calls for many years for an overhaul, similar to moves in the dairy industry that led to the creation of Fonterra.
Leading timber companies had been warned new measures needed to be put in place to avoid the job losses now affecting the industry nationwide.
"We were all told about this wall of wood that would keep the industry going. That was a myth," he said.
Winstone's managing director Dave Anderson said he and others were still "working through the numbers" and it was still too early to talk about exact figures.
"It could be 60 [job losses]; it could be 66."
He repeated earlier comments that the situation came down to a choice between laying off dozens of staff or closing the mill.
Meanwhile, the nearby township of Tapanui was bracing itself for the expected economic fallout. Forest Lodge Hotel often hosts workers after their shifts but manager Jason Perriman believes that might all change after the first mill redundancies in early April.
"A town like ours relies so much on those kinds of big industries," he said.
Tapanui Supermarket manager Vicky McElrea said the news had hit many people hard.
"There were a lot of devastated people in here the other day," she said.
Tapanui was and always would be a "timber town" and she was sure some negative impact would be felt in the community, but exactly what that would be was still too early to say.
With job layoffs and falling house prices becoming commonplace around the country, the one positive for Tapanui might be that those factors could encourage redundant staff to stay in the district.
Another business operator, who declined to be named, said the redundancies would "cripple" the community and have an effect that would be felt for many years.
