NEW YORK, January 27. /TASS/. Record high gold prices made it possible to expand precious metal mining in South Africa and revive the sector that was in distress earlier and under control of illegal gold miners, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports.

Australia-based West Wits Mining opened the first gold mine in South Africa in more than fifteen years last October. Local residents illegally mined gold there. Investments into the project are planned at about $100 mln. The mine depth is about 61 meters now and it will reach the level of about 853 meters.

According to the newspaper, Harmony Gold, a leading South African miner, is also expanding production in the Mponeng mine in the northeast of the country, which is among the deepest mines globally. Sibanye-Stillwater eyes resumption of gold mining in the Burnstone mine in the same region.

South Africa was the leader in gold mining in the last century, the newspaper noted. However, the country lost its leading position since 2007. Deep mines with obsolete equipment were too dangerous and did not attract investors. The situation started changing as the gold prices hiked, West Wits Mining Rudi Deysel said.