Gold miner Northern Star will acquire De Grey Mining in a $5 billion deal, beefing up its gold output and making it by far Australia’s biggest ASX-listed gold producer.

The acquisition means Northern Star will take over De Grey’s flagship project, Hemi: a low-cost, long-life, large-scale gold development in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

Hemi is one of the largest untapped gold prospects in the world.

Northern Star owns and operates the “super pit”, a huge open-cut mine on the edge of the Kalgoorlie township in WA’s Goldfields-Esperance region, which produces about 437,000 ounces of gold annually.

It also operates the Thunderbox, Orelia, Carosue Dam and Porphyry mines.

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Gold prices have been on a tear since October last year, and peaked above $US2740 ($4210) per ounce just before Donald Trump’s election in November, and underpinned by the strong US dollar, elevated interest rates, inflation, geopolitical uncertainty and buying by the world’s central banks, particularly China’s.

However, prices have since trended down to around $US2650 ($4075) on Monday.

Northern Star managing director and chief executive Stuart Tonkin said the Hemi project would enhance the quality of Northern Star’s assets and generate cash earnings.