(Reuters) - Australia's Evolution Mining Ltd <EVN.AX> on Tuesday agreed to buy Canadian gold mining complex Red Lake from Newmont Goldcorp Corp <NEM.N> 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-capitalised 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 <ABX.TO> decision to focus on their best performing mines, which had prompted expectations of mine sales around the world.
These expectations have materialised in a chain of recent investments by Australian miners into gold mining including BHP's <BHP.AX> recent stake acquisition in SolGold Plc <SOLG.L> and Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd <SAR.AX> 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.
($1 = 1.4736 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Shreya Mariam Job in Bengaluru; Editing by Chris Reese and Lisa Shumaker)
