The mine workings, where the drift leads, is where the 29 men were at the time of the explosion.
The recovery project, which cost $51 million, plus at least $10 million for the police - was never about recovering the bodies, which are trapped behind a massive rockfall, but was intended to search the drift for possible evidence of what caused the explosions.
A schedule had been put together to begin returning specialised mining equipment to suppliers based in Australia.
However, work will continue to drill new holes into the mine, past the rockfall to allow further police examination.
A feasibility study was conducted and a business case had been approved by the police executive for the drilling of up to six boreholes into the mine workings.
The agency will project manage the work on behalf of police.
The recovery agency had also been working with the Department of Conservation on the access arrangement variation documentation to enable the borehole drilling programme, the Grey Star reported.
That was expected to take about three months. Some rehabilitation works would happen concurrently.
Full rehabilitation could not be completed until the borehole programme had concluded.
Nitrogen lines would be removed from the hill, boreholes sealed and the nitrogen plant removed.
The site will be handed over to DoC to administer. That is estimated to happen in about November.
Last week, some of the Pike River families released a possible plan on how to go past a rockfall to the fan. A process they say would take 12 weeks and cost under $8 million.
However, the government said its plans had not changed.
