West Coast butcher Peter Lamont will spend a minimum of 14-and-a-half years behind bars after being imprisoned for life for murdering his wife Lindsay in their Ikamatua home last year.

A grieving father and spokesman for families of the 29 men killed in the Pike River Coal mine says he's "gutted" for the Pike River workers made redundant after the company went into receivership.

Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn is calling for Pike River to be made into an opencast coal mine, amid efforts to keep the 114 skilled miners made redundant today on the West Coast.

The families of the 29 workers who died in the Pike River mine are calling on the Govt to fund the recovery operation.

Police hope to cap the vent shaft at Pike River mine tomorrow after weather conditions at the site prevented the operation from going ahead today.

The majority of miners remaining at Pike River Coal mine look set to lose their jobs, as officials today told workers they were going to proceed with redundancies three weeks after a series of explosions killed 29 workers inside the mine.

The fire which has been raging for days at the Pike River Coal mine is definitely out, say Australians brought in to operate the GAG jet unit which has been pumping carbon dioxide into the mine.

There are fresh hopes firefighters will soon be able to cap a key ventilation shaft at the Pike River mine, after the disappearance of flames from the vent.

Pike River has rejected claims management was not approachable for staff with safety concerns before the November 19 blast.

Firefighters were last night battling to cool the extremely hot concrete pad around the Pike River mine vent shaft.

An operation has begun to extinguish the fire coming from the vent shaft of the Pike River mine and cool the surrounding concrete pad, using water pumped up from a nearby creek.

Balloons replaced candles as the birthday of one of the Pike River Mine 29 was celebrated yesterday in the first individual memorial service.

A Santa parade in Greymouth today brought some much needed cheer to the community.

It could take weeks for a GAG unit to put out a coal fire in the Pike River mine, police say.