(Reuters) - Australia's Evolution Mining Ltd (AX:EVN) on Tuesday agreed to buy Canadian gold mining complex Red Lake from Newmont Goldcorp Corp (N:NEM) for $375 million in cash.
Evolution also agreed to pay an additional $100 million upon new resource discovery at the mine.
"Red Lake is an under-capitalized asset which, through a committed investment in development and exploration, is intended to become a cornerstone asset in the Evolution portfolio," said Jake Klein, Evolution's executive chairman.
Newmont said in a statement that the sale was part of its efforts to streamline its asset base.
The deal follows the top global gold miners Newmont and Barrick Gold Corp's (TO:ABX) decision to focus on their best performing mines, which had prompted expectations of mine sales around the world.
These expectations have materialized in a chain of recent investments by Australian miners into gold mining including BHP's (AX:BHP) recent stake acquisition in SolGold Plc (L:SOLG) and Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (AX:SAR) acquiring Barrick's 50% stake in Super Pit gold mine in November.
Evolution has also made a commitment to spend $100 million on existing operations and an additional $50 million in exploration at Red Lake over the first three years after the completion of the deal.
The acquisition will be funded through an A$600 million ($407 million) loan facility, the Australian gold explorer said in a statement.