Defence Force personnel are preparing to make the Pike River mine safe for a search for the remains of the 29 men who died there.
The mine has been sealed since 2010 when it exploded and killed all but two of the men inside.
Thirty-one Air Force and Army personnel and a Defence Force helicopter arrived on the West Coast on Saturday to help remove an old ventilation fan from a hill above the mine.
The work is the start of a $7.2 million Government-funded effort to recover remains of the men killed in a series of explosions that began on 19 November 2010.
It involves clearing the top of the hill so concrete can be poured down the ventilation shaft to help stabilise the mine's atmosphere.
A Defence Force spokesperson said work was to have begun on Monday but good weather has encouraged the team to begin work on Saturday.
