Mako Mining Corp. (TSXV: MKO, OTCQX: MAKOF) is making waves in its latest exploration efforts in Nicaragua, where early results from its 2025 reverse circulation (RC) drill program at the El Golfo area are already turning heads. The company’s focus on El Golfo, part of the larger El Jicaro Concession, reveals the kind of high-grade gold intercepts that can redefine a junior miner’s trajectory.
The headline result comes from drill hole EJ25-RC53, which cut through a remarkably high-grade interval: 39.15 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 27.8 g/t silver over 8.0 meters (with an estimated true width of 5.9 meters), just 19.2 meters below the surface. This intercept is one of the richest the company has ever reported, and it came from a target that had never been drilled before. The hole was designed to test a prominent northeast-southwest trending structure, identified through recent soil sampling and geological mapping of old underground workings. This orientation is significant because it matches the mineralization controls at Mako’s existing San Albino and Las Conchitas deposits.
Another hole from the same pad, EJ25-RC52, encountered a strongly sheared and disturbed zone with anomalous gold values, further hinting at the potential of El Golfo.
So far, Mako has completed 12 drill holes in the past month, focusing on the Pavona zone within El Golfo. The remaining 10 holes intersected sulfide mineralization that the company believes is part of the same gold-bearing system. Assay results for these holes are pending, and the company plans to share them as they become available. Meanwhile, ongoing mapping and sampling efforts are identifying new drill targets across this 1.5 square kilometer area.
El Golfo’s location is a major advantage. It sits less than a kilometer from the active pits at Las Conchitas, which feed ore to the 500-tonne-per-day San Albino processing plant. The proximity means that any significant discovery at El Golfo could quickly become an economic asset.
Akiba Leisman, Mako’s CEO, is understandably upbeat. “It’s encouraging that we hit one of the highest grade-thickness intervals we’ve ever seen, and we did it on the second hole at one of our top-priority targets on the 224 square kilometer San Albino Project,” he says. “El Golfo is the area within our concessions that has seen the most historical mining since the 1700s, but access and logistical issues meant we initially focused on Las Conchitas after we brought San Albino into commercial production in 2021. Now that we’ve started a significant exploration program at El Golfo, we’re optimistic that it could become a new mining area for us.”
El Golfo’s mining history dates back to the late 18th century, when Spanish miners first discovered gold-bearing structures. Underground mining continued until 1915, when a flood destroyed a wooden dam and part of the mill, effectively ending operations. Prior to the flood, the El Golfo mill was a stamp mill with 20 stamps weighing between 500 pounds each, processing material with a mill head grade of 21.56 g/t gold (0.63 ounces per ton). After the flood, underground workings collapsed, and all activity ceased.
Historical reports indicate that sixteen gold-bearing veins were outlined by surface and underground workings, with individual veins stretching up to 150 meters and widths ranging from 5 centimeters to 4.5 meters. The mineralization style is similar to that at San Albino, featuring quartz veins with galena, sphalerite, arsenopyrite, and occasionally visible gold, along with lesser silver mineralization.
Mako’s exploration success is supported by an expanding land package. The company’s wholly owned Nicaraguan subsidiary, Nicoz Resources, S.A., recently secured the Tiburon concession from the Nicaraguan Ministry of Mines and Energy. This new concession covers 3,605 hectares (36.05 square kilometers) and is contiguous to the east and northeast of Mako’s existing San Albino-Murra and El Jicaro concessions.
The Tiburon concession is valid for 25 years, until November 2049, and permits both exploration and exploitation. With this addition, Mako now holds 100% of five mineral concessions in Nueva Segovia, Nicaragua, totaling approximately 22,422 hectares (224 square kilometers).
Mako Mining Corp. is positioning itself as a nimble, growth-oriented player in the gold sector. The company’s strategy centers on profitable operations at the high-grade San Albino mine, which is already recognized as one of the highest-grade open pit gold mines in the world. Profits from San Albino are being reinvested into exploration across Mako’s district-scale land package, with El Golfo emerging as a standout target. If the company continues to deliver high-grade results, El Golfo could soon join San Albino and Las Conchitas as a cornerstone of Mako’s production profile.
