Raiseboring work started on the shaft on December 20 and despite the silly season the 4.2m shaft was finished yesterday.

The next phase will focus on supporting the walls of the shaft with steel mesh and bolts and later the installation of the surface extraction fan during February 2009.

With excavation to take place in the pit bottom area, Pike said the second continuous miner would start once the fan is installed.

Pike said from mid-January there would be enough ventilation for the combined operation of the road header and one continuous miner to cut coal as well as the inseam drilling unit used to plot the best way forward in the coal seam.

“Completing the raisebore is a good milestone to complete at the start of the new year and will assist us in meeting our revised production forecast,” Pike chief executive Gordon Ward said.

Pike shares on the Australian Securities Exchange closed down 3% yesterday to 81.5c.