Great Bear is yet to announce a long-awaited initial resource for Dixie, which has been slated for early next year, and it announced a new high-grade gold zone two weeks ago.

Kinross said it had been actively involved in the diligence of Dixie since 2018 and described it as "one of the most exciting recent gold discoveries globally and extensive drilling results have shown the characteristics of a top tier deposit".

Kinross may have beaten Barrick Gold to the punch, with speculation of Barrick making a play for Great Bear emerging last month when it struck agreements with two juniors over holdings to the west and north of Dixie. 

Kinross said it would make an upfront payment, financed by existing liquidity, which represented C$29 per Great Bear share on a fully-diluted basis.

It said Great Bear shareholders could elect cash or 3.8564 Kinross shares, up to aggregate maximums of 75% cash and 40% Kinross shares, and the deal included contingent value rights which could be exchanged for 0.133 of a Kinross share for further consideration of US$46 million.

Great Bear president and CEO Chris Taylor said the transaction was an outstanding opportunity for its shareholders, partners at Wabauskang and Lac Seul First Nations, and the local communities of Northern Ontario.

He said it was at a "compelling premium" of 40% to the 20-day VWAP, and Great Bear shareholders would own about 7% of Kinross, on a fully diluted basis, assuming full take-up of the share consideration.

Kinross president and CEO J Paul Rollinson said Dixie represented an exciting opportunity to develop a potentially top-tier deposit into a large, long-life mine complex.

"In addition to the prospect of developing a quality, high-grade open pit mine, we also believe that a significant portion of the asset's value is its longer-term potential, which includes the view of a sizeable underground operation," he said.

"We are pleased to achieve our goal of adding a high-quality asset in our home jurisdiction that further bolsters our global portfolio and can potentially provide long-term tax benefits."

Kinross is expected to produce about 2.1 million ounces gold-equivalent this year from its operations in the US, Brazil, Russia, Mauritania, Chile and Ghana.

It had cash and equivalents of US$586.1 million at September 30.

Kinross shares (TSX: K) last traded at C$7.45, valuing it at $9.3 billion (US$7.3 billion).

Great Bear shares (TSXV: GBR) hit a one-year high intraday of $22.96 before closing up 3.4% to $22.93, capitalising it at $1.3 billion (US$1 billion).