The first of two continuous miners arrived last night and will be delivered onsite next week. The second continuous miner is due to arrive in New Zealand in October 2008.

The continuous miners were purchased from and customised by Waratah Engineering in Newcastle with the base machine manufactured by Wirth in Germany.

“Delivery of the 74-tonne continuous miner within budget and ready for coal mining is the culmination of a two-year exercise,” Pike River chief executive Gordon Ward said.

The continuous miners will be introduced into the underground mine over coming months to operate in conjunction with Pike River’s existing $4.2 million roadheader.

The roadheader has already been commissioned and is ready to commence pit-bottom construction west of the Hawera fault, once the tunnel intersects the coal seam.

When pit-bottom is completed, all three machines will be used to drive roadways, providing access for the hydro-monitor equipment, which uses high pressure water to cut coal.

The mine is expected to produce 200,000 tonnes of coal by June 30 next year and then an average of 1 million tonnes per annum for the life of mine.

The development phase of the mine has put Pike River into the red, with the company announcing this morning a $1.14 million loss for the 2008 financial year.

One-off items during the year for the company included the recruitment of management and skilled workers and the transition to new coal transport arrangements. Eighty staff have now been employed at the mine.

Ward said the outlook for the 2009 financial year was “positive” with forward orders in place.

Pike River was trading mid-morning at $1.55.