State owned Solid Energy has confirmed it wants to buy the Pike River mine, but getting it back into production would be a big job.

Families of the dead men still at Pike River want the recovery of their loved ones' bodies to be a condition of a proposed sale of the mine.

The Christchurch earthquake has delayed the preliminary hearing of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into last year's Pike River Coal mine disaster, which claimed the lives of 29 men.

There's a "strong possibility" Pike River Coal mine contractors will never receive money owed to them, a receiver says.

Police made the "wrong call" to raise hopes for a rescue after the first Pike River Coal mine explosion, Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn says.

All 29 men lost in the Pike River disaster died within minutes of the first blast in the West Coast coal mine, a coronial inquest into the disaster has concluded.

The man charged with overseeing the Pike River mine smelled diesel or exhaust in the air about the time it was hit with an explosion that killed 29 men.

The 29 workers who died in the Pike River disaster would have died within minutes of the original explosion at the West Coast coal mine, a coronial hearing in Greymouth has heard.

Labour leader Phil Goff has accused John Key of "passing the buck" on whether to permanently seal the Pike River coal mine. Receivers have been given until 5pm today to come up with a plan for stabilising the mine.

Some Pike River relatives were always resigned to the fact that the remains would never be returned.

The families of the 29 lost Pike River miners say they are "gravely concerned" that the Government and police are abandoning recovery efforts at the mine and are calling for the decision to be reassessed.

The Pike River mine will be sealed and there is little or no chance of the bodies of 29 men killed being recovered in the near future, says Prime Minister John Key. He said it was "not an issue of money or time or commitment."

Closing the Pike River coal mine and handing the land back to the government is the worst-case scenario, according to the company's receiver.

The Pike River Mine will be handed back to the company's receivers, Police Commissioner Howard Broad announced yesterday.

Police Commissioner Howard Broad has announced police are all but giving up hope of recovering the remains of the 29 Pike River miners.

The heads of police and the Department of Conservation will deliver news in person today to the families of the 29 dead workers in the Pike River mine.

Rising gas levels have again stopped workers trying to recover the bodies of 29 men trapped inside the Pike River Coal mine today.

A man who allegedly posed as a Pike River miner to steal from a family who befriended him was remanded in custody when he appeared in court today.