"A junior gold label applied to a debt-free producer that built its mine during a pandemic and two hurricanes, holds US$78M cash with zero long-term debt and is expanding from one high-grade asset to four. The market is still pricing the current mine. Three development assets are not in the price."
Mako Mining mines gold from a high-grade open-pit deposit in northern Nicaragua and sells it at prevailing spot prices. The San Albino mine in Nueva Segovia mills ore at 7-9 grams per tonne, confirmed by an NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate at 11.61 g/t on a fully-diluted open-pit basis, materially above the typical open-pit industry benchmark. Grade is where the economics live in this business: higher-grade feed reduces the cost allocation per recovered ounce at a given throughput rate and it shows directly in the unit economics.
The balance sheet transformation is the most underappreciated fact about this company. In early 2022, Mako carried a working-capital deficit and meaningful obligations to two creditors. By December 31, 2025, it held US$78M in combined cash and receivables with zero long-term debt. The mechanism matters: it was not a commodity price spike that built the clean balance sheet. It was a documented sequence of operational decisions, prioritizing cash generation over production growth, repaying debt from operations and structuring three acquisitions to minimize both cash outlay and equity dilution. FY2025 free cash flow was approximately US$21M in the first nine months alone.
Since San Albino reached commercial production in July 2021, Mako has added three development assets: the Moss Mine in Arizona (acquired for US$6.5M out of bankruptcy, 646,000 M&I ounces at 0.35 g/t), Mt. Hamilton in Nevada (fully permitted, shovel-ready, acquired via a royalty stream with zero cash and zero dilution), and Eagle Mountain in Guyana (1.2M indicated ounces at 1.18 g/t, acquired entirely in stock). Management's informal target is 200,000 oz/year by H1 2028 across four operating mines. At US$4,500/oz gold, the SOTP-implied equity value is approximately C$15.84 per share against a current price of C$9.85.
The earnings quality is real. From FY2022 through 9M 2025, operating cash flow exceeded reported net income in every period. In FY2024, US$19.2M net income against US$34.4M of operating cash flow. TTM Adjusted EBITDA through September 30, 2025 was US$60.8M, yielding an EV/EBITDA of ~9.1× on an enterprise value of US$555.6M. Q4 2025 was a record quarter: US$50M of revenue in a single quarter at US$4,313/oz average gold. That quarter is not yet reflected in the trailing multiple.
This is not a deeply discounted value situation, and the report does not pretend otherwise. The opportunity lies in the gap between what the market is currently modeling, a single Nicaraguan mine at a stable gold price, and what may be in place by 2028: a four-asset platform approaching 200,000 ounces while gold trades above US$4,500/oz. The re-rating, if it happens, will not come from multiple expansion alone. It will come from the market slowly correcting an error it has not yet revisited.
Over the years, I've spent a lot of time on investment platforms, forums, newsletters and communities. Great ideas everywhere: tickers, theses, one-liners that make you think. But I always had the same problem: when I find something interesting, I still have to do all the research myself. Every time.
I looked for research that was actually complete, a real deep-dive where you can follow the reasoning, check the numbers and disagree with the conclusion if you want. Rarely found it. Especially on small-caps, where institutional coverage is thin and mispricing opportunities are real. So I built it myself.
Read more about the process and the checklist →This report represents the personal opinion of the author and is published for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice, a solicitation to buy or sell securities, or a recommendation of any kind. All analysis is based on publicly available information. The author may hold positions in the securities discussed. Investing involves risk of loss. Past analysis does not guarantee future results. Nothing here should be relied upon as the basis for any investment decision.