Cold Gold Clutha Ltd's dredge, which was launched just below the Roxburgh Dam almost a year ago and then shut down because of unspecified problems, is still not back in operation.
In October, six staff were made redundant and the 24m suction dredge was anchored about 20km downstream, near Ettrick.
At that time, company co-director and dredge project manager Peter Hall said the dredge had proved to be inefficient and needed redesigning. He would not comment on the dredge's specific problems other than to say it was not finding enough gold, ''not even close''.
When contacted by the OODT, he said there was still no clear time frame as to when the dredge would again be operational, ''but we're optimistic''.
Some of the staff who were laid off could return to work, though it was still too far away to make clear decisions, he said.
The company has a 10-year consent to dredge a 60km stretch of the Clutha River from the Roxburgh Dam to Tuapeka Mouth.
When the dredge was launched, the gold price was just over $NZ2000 an ounce and the company's other director, Danny Walker, said he would like to recover 4oz a day over the 200 days a year the dredge would be operating.
