Mako Mining Corp. (NASDAQ: MAKO; TSX-V: MKO) has signed a mineral agreement with the Government of Guyana and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission that establishes a 10-year stability framework for the Eagle Mountain Gold Project, giving the developer greater certainty over legal, fiscal and operating conditions while environmental permitting remains unfinished.
The agreement covers mining and prospecting licences, authorisations, fiscal terms, royalties, taxes and government undertakings under Guyana’s Mining Act. It also contains commitments relating to Guyanese employment, training, procurement, environmental initiatives and community programmes, creating a framework that extends beyond tax treatment alone.
After the initial ten-year term, the parties can negotiate amendments or renew the agreement on the same terms and conditions. The project must also fund community and environmental programmes beginning no later than 24 months after a mining licence is granted or 12 months after production starts, whichever happens first.
The September 10 agreement removes one development uncertainty but not the most immediate regulatory one. Mako submitted the project’s Environmental and Social Impact Assessment in March, completed the public-comment period in June and expects to submit a final revised ESIA in the fourth quarter before Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency makes a permitting decision.
Why does fiscal stability matter to a gold project before construction begins?
Mining investments require large amounts of capital years before developers know exactly how much revenue a mine will ultimately generate. Changes in royalties, taxes, licence terms or other operating conditions after capital is committed can materially change the return available to shareholders.
A ten-year stability framework therefore improves visibility around assumptions used to evaluate Eagle Mountain. It does not eliminate commodity-price, construction or geological risk, but it reduces the possibility that important fiscal terms unexpectedly change during the early operating period.
The agreement is particularly relevant because Eagle Mountain has already been subjected to a preliminary economic assessment. That study used a gold price of only $1,850 per ounce and estimated an after-tax net present value of $292 million at a 5% discount rate, an after-tax internal rate of return of 57% and approximately 1.5 years of payback on Phase 1 pre-production capital.
Those figures remain preliminary and are based partly on inferred mineral resources that are not mineral reserves, so there is no certainty the PEA economics will be realised. They nevertheless provide a baseline against which investors can understand why locking down fiscal terms matters before more capital is committed.
How much capital would Eagle Mountain require under the existing preliminary study?
The PEA estimated Phase 1 pre-production capital of approximately $95.6 million, including indirect costs, owner costs, working capital and contingency. Phase 2 development in years four and five was estimated at another $46.6 million, while sustaining capital over the projected mine life was approximately $133.4 million.
Total capital, including closure and reclamation costs, was estimated at roughly $295.6 million across the 15-year project life. Those numbers are based on the existing technical study and will almost certainly evolve as engineering, inflation, project design and future studies refine the development plan.
Mako is in a stronger funding position than many single-project developers because it already operates producing mines. The company reported $62.6 million of second-quarter revenue, $31.7 million of adjusted EBITDA and $13.9 million of net income, while cash, trade receivables and marketable securities stood at approximately $112.9 million at June 30.
Management has said its existing liquidity and cash flows from the San Albino and Moss mines are sufficient to fund its remaining development projects without external capital. Eagle Mountain will test that assertion because development spending has to occur while Mako simultaneously operates and invests in its existing asset base.
How different are Eagle Mountain’s economics when compared with current gold prices?
The PEA’s $1,850-per-ounce assumption is far below gold prices realised by Mako during 2026. In the second quarter, the company sold 14,610 ounces at an average realised price of approximately $4,201 per ounce.
That comparison does not mean Eagle Mountain’s $292 million NPV should simply be multiplied by the difference in gold prices. Mine valuations depend on taxes, recoveries, costs, production schedules, capital requirements and discounting, while current commodity prices may not persist throughout a 15-year mine life.
It does, however, demonstrate why the project can become more strategically important to Mako if updated technical work confirms its geology and development assumptions. A project originally evaluated at a much lower gold price possesses substantial commodity-price leverage if capital and operating costs remain controlled.
Investors should therefore watch for updated feasibility-level economics rather than relying indefinitely on the older PEA. The fiscal agreement makes those future calculations more useful because one important group of assumptions now has greater contractual visibility.
What remains before Mako can call Eagle Mountain a permitted development project?
Environmental authorisation is the next major hurdle. The company expects to file its final ESIA during the fourth quarter after incorporating stakeholder and regulatory feedback, with a decision by Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency expected afterward.
Mako will also need the relevant mining licences and further development approvals before construction can proceed. Engineering studies must continue to move the project from preliminary economic assessment toward a level of technical confidence appropriate for a construction decision.
Funding remains a practical question even if management expects internal cash generation to be sufficient. The company had approximately $113 million of cash, securities and receivables at June 30, only modestly above the existing $95.6 million Phase 1 capital estimate, although ongoing operating cash flow from its producing mines materially changes that comparison.
The September agreement therefore de-risks one side of the project without completing the development process. Eagle Mountain now has a ten-year fiscal and legal framework, but environmental approval and more advanced technical work remain the milestones that will determine whether that framework ultimately governs an operating mine.
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