YAKUTSK, November 29 (RIA Novosti, Pyotr Vasyliyev) - The level of investment in the gold mining industry in the Siberian republic of Sakha (Yakutia) could total $800 million in the near future, the republic's president said Tuesday.

Following the Central Bank's Monday announcement that it intended to expand its gold reserves and with prices for the precious metal exceeding $500 per pounce, a record high since 1983, Vyacheslav Shtyrov said the funds would be primarily used for developing the Nizhny Kuranakh and the Nezhdaninskoye deposits, and for prospecting at the Kyuchus deposit. The three fields have estimated reserves of roughly 28 million ounces under Russian classification.

The Polyus gold-mining company, a subsidiary of Russian metals giant Norilsk Nickel, will invest $100 million in 2006 alone, Shtyrov said.

"We hope to develop our projects with the help of such major structures [as Norilsk]," the republic's president added.

On November 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the government to draw up a program for cooperation with business in developing the gold mining sector.

Russia is the world's fifth leading primary gold producer after South Africa, the United States, Australia and Canada. Its gold resources are mostly concentrated in Siberia and the Far East.