Tahoe Resources Inc, a Canadian gold miner, has agreed to acquire smaller rival Rio Alto Mining in a cash and share deal valued at $1.12 billion, in an attempt to expand its presence in Latin America. The deal is the latest sign that precious metal miners are slowly coming to grips with new market realities and beginning to focus on long term growth once again. Last month, Goldcorp Inc. agreed to acquire Probe Mines Ltd in an all-stock deal that valued the company at C$526 million, in a bid to control the Borden Gold project in Ontario. Tahoe Resources said its offer values Rio Alto at C$4 a share, a 22.1% premium over Rio Alto’s closing price of C$3.28 a share on Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Tahoe Chief Executive Kevin McArthur said in an interview, “What comes out of this is a cash flow machine, we have a very strong unleveraged balance sheet, and we’ve got production growth with very low capital risk.”