Record gold prices are pushing South Africa’s beleaguered mining industry to find new ways to recover the metal that sidestep the costly deep-shaft mining of old, industry executives said. But with no boom in new mine development expected, they’re unlikely to add enough production any time soon to significantly lift the stubbornly low output of a country that for more than a century was the world’s biggest gold producer. South Africa’s gold exploration has dropped nearly 90% from the 1990s, with spending on mineral exploration declining to just $43 million in 2025 from $900 million in 2006, according to Statistics ... (full story)