In a statement earlier this week, Westland Milk Products said under-sea tunnel boring to a point 800m from the shoreline had been completed, but work was continuing on connecting the diffuser to the end of the pipeline.
Connection of the diffuser would mark completion of the project, according the company's environmental manager Mark Lockington.
“Once the diffuser is connected to the end of the pipeline, the tunnel boring machine will be lifted off the seabed onto a large barge for transportation back to Greymouth.”
Recent weather conditions had also caused delays to some final stages of underwater work, the company said.