Gold boom sparks scramble for mines

For years, hundreds of illegal miners known locally as zama zamas prospected for gold on this patch of land on the outskirts of the city with hammers and chisels in hand-dug tunnels.

- Alexandra Wexler

Now, the site has been transformed into South Africa’s first new underground gold mine in more than 15 years, part of a global rush to boost production of a metal trading at record prices.

"It looked like a Mad Max movie,” said Rudi Deysel, chief executive of West Wits Mining, the Australian company that owns the mine. “I had to crawl on my stomach to go in there.”