Cash-rich Australian gold miners set to take deals global

Melbourne

AUSTRALIA'S top gold producers are set to take their US$5 billion acquisition spree global to secure growth as domestic opportunities fade and bullion's gains swell their cash piles.

Companies including Evolution Mining Ltd and Northern Star Resources Ltd, Australia's No 2 and No 3 producers, may be required to look to the US and Canada for acquisitions to add operations of sufficient scale and quality, according to Global Mining Research Ltd.

"You have to improve your portfolio and there's not a lot here that's left," Sydney-based Global Mining executive director David Cotterell said by phone. "If you want to go a bit further afield and want to keep the risk profile similar, then you need to target North America." Gold companies based in Australia have proposed or completed acquisitions worth about US$4.5 billion since a rebound in deal-making in 2015, though the value…