All workers made redundant when the Earnscleugh gold mine closed last month appear to have found other employment.
The Earnscleugh project, owned by L&M Group, was the largest alluvial gold operation in the country and mining was in the fifth year of a seven-year project.
The company blamed the closure on depressed gold prices and the high New Zealand dollar.
Mining stopped on September 19 and L&M has continued to employ 13 of the 35 staff for remedial work to restore and improve the mined land.
L&M Group chief financial officer Shirley Herridge said last week as far as she was aware, all the staff made redundant had ''headed straight into another job.
''We couldn't be more delighted.''
After the closure of the mine was announced, Miss Herridge fielded several calls from employers who had jobs for skilled mine workers.
She was unsure how many of the staff had remained within Central Otago, ''but I had the impression most had found jobs relatively close by - within Otago, anyway''.
Central Otago Mayor Tony Lepper said he was also under the impression the redundant mine workers had no difficulty finding other jobs.
''The [Central Otago District] council offered to get involved in the process of finding work but we were told it was all under control, and they'd been offered jobs by other employers,'' he said.
The workers' skills were ''transferrable'' and they seemed to have had no problems finding other work.
L&M had been a major employer in the district, bringing in millions of dollars to the local economy, but the lifespan of the mine was always limited, he said, although it had ''finished quicker than we all thought''.
L&M owns more than 400ha of farmland at Earnscleugh and about 150ha was earmarked for mining. Miss Herridge said no decision had been made yet about the future of the land.
''We're definitely rehabilitating it and doing what we can to put it into pasture but have no firm plans what will happen to it then,'' she said.
The dredge plant was being dismantled.
Mr Lepper said the land had been left in a ''better condition'' than it was before mining began.
''They've been good landowners. There's an irrigation system installed now and the land has certainly been improved from what it was before.''
