By The Rio Times | Created at 2026-09-11 09:36:44 | Updated at 2026-09-11 10:58:54
1 hour ago
GUYANA · MINING
Key Facts
- —The deal Guyana signed a mineral agreement with Mako Mining Corp on 10 September 2026, locking in a 10-year legal and fiscal framework for the Eagle Mountain gold project.
- —The signatories Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat signed for the government, with Mako CEO Akiba Leisman and President Steve Parsons, alongside the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission.
- —The project Eagle Mountain, about 8 kilometres from Mahdia in Region 8 (Potaro-Siparuni), holds 1.18 million ounces of indicated gold resources plus 582,000 ounces inferred.
- —The timeline Construction is expected to begin by the third quarter of 2027, with first gold production by the end of 2028, subject to regulatory and environmental approvals.
- —The terms Guyana’s standard mining fiscal regime applies — an 8 percent net smelter royalty and 25 percent corporate tax — which company filings estimate could mean US$146.7 million in royalties over the mine’s life.
Guyana’s oil boom gets the headlines, but the country just signed its most important gold deal of the decade — a decade-long framework that could put a new industrial mine into production by the end of 2028.
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Guyana’s government signed a mineral agreement with Canada’s Mako Mining Corp on Thursday 10 September 2026, advancing the Eagle Mountain gold project toward construction, the Department of Public Information announced.
The agreement was signed by Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat, Mako Mining Chief Executive Officer Akiba Leisman and Mako President Steve Parsons, in the presence of representatives of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC). It establishes the legal, fiscal and operating framework for developing Eagle Mountain, held through Mako’s wholly owned subsidiary Stronghold Guyana Inc.
What the Agreement Locks In
Mineral agreements are the top tier of mining contract in Guyana, negotiated under the Mining Act with individual companies. This one gives Mako a 10-year stability framework covering its mining and prospecting licences, authorizations and fiscal terms. After the initial term, the parties can renegotiate in good faith or renew on the same conditions.
The fiscal architecture follows Guyana’s standard mining regime rather than the bespoke terms that made the country’s ExxonMobil oil contract so controversial. Company technical documentation describes an 8 percent net smelter royalty on gold payable to the government — deductible against the 25 percent corporate tax on chargeable income — and estimates the royalty alone would deliver US$146.7 million to the state over the life of the mine, with after-tax free cash flow of roughly US$38 million a year.
The agreement also carries social obligations: annual funding for community development and social programs, starting no later than 24 months after the mining licence is granted or 12 months after production begins, whichever comes first, plus an annual contribution to the Ministry of Natural Resources’ Training Centre for skills development.
The Project: Gold Near Mahdia
Eagle Mountain sits in west-central Guyana, roughly 200 kilometres south-southwest of Georgetown and about 8 kilometres from Mahdia, the hub town of Region 8 (Potaro-Siparuni). The area has been mined for over a century, and Mahdia remains the center of Guyana’s small and medium-scale gold sector.
The project’s resource base, from an April 2022 estimate prepared under prior ownership, stands at 1.18 million ounces of gold in the indicated category (31.1 million tonnes at 1.18 grams per tonne) plus 582,000 ounces inferred. Preparatory work has already started, DPI said, with construction targeted for the third quarter of 2027 and first production by end-2028, subject to environmental and regulatory approvals.
Mako is no newcomer. The Vancouver-based company, listed on the TSX Venture Exchange and Nasdaq with a market value of about C$1.2 billion (roughly US$0.9 billion), operates the high-grade San Albino gold mine in Nicaragua, bought the permitted Mt Hamilton project in Nevada in March 2026, and has worked in Guyana for more than a decade.
Why Gold Still Matters in an Oil Economy
Gold was Guyana’s biggest export before oil, and it remains the anchor of the non-oil economy. Declarations rose by about 50,000 ounces in 2025, and the sector earned close to US$1 billion in 2024 as large-scale producers restarted and expanded. The Rio Times reported this year that gold declarations reached about US$955 million in the first half of 2026 alone.
Eagle Mountain would join a short list of industrial-scale projects in a sector dominated by small miners — alongside G Mining Ventures’ Oko West, whose US$2.2 billion takeover by a Canadian major was approved by shareholders in June. For a government eager to show its economy is more than oil, a second world-class gold build carries symbolic and fiscal weight.
Region One Investment Adds Context
The same week illustrated the government’s broader interior push: on 9 September, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha commissioned 230 million Guyana dollars (about US$1.1 million at 209 Guyana dollars per US dollar) in agriculture and waterway equipment for Region One (Barima-Waini), including a pontoon and two excavators, the Guyana Chronicle reported. The works target farm access and drainage in a region where rivers double as roads.
For foreign investors and expatriates watching Guyana, the pattern is the point: oil revenue is being parlayed into hard infrastructure and resource contracts across the interior, and the state is signing long-dated stability agreements to pull projects forward. Eagle Mountain’s approvals process — especially its environmental permit — is the next checkpoint to watch.
