As you have probably already noticed the patch announced for January will be a little late.
Unfortunately, I got bogged down in some administrative work recently, which cost me more time than I expected. Nevertheless, good progress has been made!
The detail pass for the new mines is almost done and I can already say that the final performance will be significantly better than in the original version. Style-wise the new area is also a fair bit more recognizable. The flow of the level has also been improved massively, making it properly navigatable.
Some things are still missing, most notably two major quests, some scripts, and the soundscape. Itemization has been planned out in detail but needs to be realized (i.e. some items still have to be placed). Here are some impressions from the environment:
A shortcut maybe?

The factory below the heartlands is a vast underground complex.

A good place for fishing!

Perhaps a way upstairs?

All in all, I hope it won't take much longer than 2-3 weeks.
Just wanted to keep you up to date. I will create another dev diary in the near future.
Until then!
Best wishes,
Michael