Oko West Moves into Mine-Building Phase as G Mining Advances Guyana’s Next Major Gold Operation

G Mining Ventures’ Oko West Gold Project has entered the part of the development cycle where a mine is no longer judged by the strength of its study alone. In northwest Guyana, the project is now being measured by earthworks, concrete, procurement discipline, logistics control, workforce mobilisation and the ability to keep multiple construction fronts moving toward a single commissioning timetable.

By the end of March 2026, Oko West had reached 19.7% overall completion on an earned-value basis. Approximately US$292 million had been spent, representing about 30% of the initial capital estimate of roughly US$973 million, while commitments had reached about US$525 million. First gold remains targeted for the second half of 2027, with commercial production expected in January 2028. 

The project’s progress is notable because it is now moving through the phase where construction risk becomes visible. Engineering assumptions are being tested against ground conditions, freight routes, workforce capacity, concrete productivity, major equipment delivery and the practical demands of building a large gold mine in Guyana’s interior.

G Mining Ventures is a precious metals company built around mine development, operation and project execution. Its portfolio is anchored by the Tocantinzinho Mine in Brazil, with Oko West in Guyana and the Gurupi Project in Brazil forming the company’s next growth platform. The company trades on the TSX under the symbol GMIN and has positioned itself as a developer capable of moving projects from acquisition through construction and into operation. 

Oko West is the asset expected to change the company’s production profile. The project was added to G Mining’s portfolio through the 2024 business combination with Reunion Gold. It is 100% held through G Mining’s Guyanese subsidiary and covers a prospecting licence of about 44km², approximately 95km west of Georgetown in northwest Guyana. 

Oko West has the scale to sit among the more important new gold developments currently under construction. G Mining’s project data outlines average annual production of 350,000 oz over 12.3 years at mine-site all-in sustaining costs of US$1,123/oz. The feasibility case showed an after-tax NPV5% of US$2.2 billion, an after-tax IRR of 27% and a 2.9-year payback period using a base-case gold price of US$2,500/oz. 

That combination of scale, margin and construction momentum places Oko West in a relatively narrow class. Many gold development projects remain caught between resource growth, permitting, financing and capital-cost pressure. Oko West has already moved into committed build-out, with procurement around 80% complete and all major procurement packages awarded at or below budget pricing as of the company’s first-quarter project update. 

The reserve base gives the construction program its foundation. G Mining reported 4.64 Moz of Proven and Probable Reserves at 1.89 g/t gold for Oko West in its 2025 feasibility framework. The company has also noted that exploration drilling completed after the feasibility study was not included in the 2025 year-end mineral resource estimate, leaving scope for future updates as drilling continues. 

The processing plant is now the centre of gravity for the build. Detailed excavation of the carbon-in-pulp area has been completed, mass excavation for the primary crusher is finished and concrete has been poured for the ball mill foundations. Rebar placement and formwork are advancing for the SAG mill piers, with both mills scheduled for delivery in July 2026. The grinding mills are expected to be operational by August 2027. 

Those works sit directly on the path to first gold. A gold mine can assemble its fleet, expand its camp and open its logistics corridor but commercial value begins only when ore can move through crushing, grinding, leaching and recovery circuits at design reliability. At Oko West, the transition from civil works to mechanical installation will be one of the clearest indicators of whether the construction schedule is holding its shape.

The project’s engineering status supports that transition. Detailed engineering had reached 79.8% completion by the end of March, with infrastructure detailed design scheduled for completion in Q2 2026 and process plant detailed engineering at 70% completion. That level of definition gives the construction team a stronger base for sequencing plant installation, power integration, tankage, piping and commissioning works. 

Oko West’s location gives logistics a central role in the project’s execution. Heavy equipment, consumables, steel, fuel, plant components and mining supplies have to move through a corridor capable of supporting large-scale construction in northwest Guyana. G Mining has addressed that challenge by securing a 20% interest in Rock Solid International Inc., which indirectly owns and operates wharf and storage facilities at the Eccles Port Facility on the Demerara River. 

That investment gives the company priority handling and preferential rates for equipment, materials and supplies. The Eccles facility is already being used to load barges bound for the project’s Cuyuni River barge facility, while a planned expansion targeted for completion by year-end 2026 is expected to allow incoming vessels to berth and unload cargo. 

At the mine end of the corridor, the barge landing caisson and ramp were completed at the end of March. The wharf and offloading ramp are now operational, allowing heavy equipment, construction materials and mining supplies to be moved into the site more efficiently. This is not peripheral infrastructure. For an interior mine build, the reliability of the port-to-barge-to-site chain can influence the entire construction sequence.

The power plant is advancing alongside the process plant. Concrete works are continuing in priority areas, including the grinding circuit and the main power plant engine hall. Overall concrete completion had reached approximately 20% by the end of March, with placement volumes increasing in line with the project schedule. 

A steel bridge on the access road was completed and opened in March, enabling delivery of the main power plant generators, which rank among the heaviest components in the project logistics chain. Generator deliveries are expected through the second quarter of 2026, approximately two months ahead of schedule. The power plant is expected to be operational in July 2027. 

The timing is critical. Reliable power must be available before sustained commissioning of the processing plant. The delivery of generators, progress on the engine hall and completion of the access bridge show how civil works, logistics and commissioning readiness are now tightly linked.

Tailings construction is also moving from planning into site execution. Clearing for the tailings storage facility had reached 36% by the end of March, with foundation preparation underway for the main tailings dam. Fill placement is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2026. 

The mining side is beginning to resemble an operating system rather than a future plan. Fleet assembly and commissioning are advancing for pre-production activities, with several primary production units and support machines already assembled and commissioned. Grade-control drilling and sampling have started, while the explosives storage facility is nearing completion and ready to receive initial deliveries. 

Those steps are important because the first months of a mine’s operating life often reveal whether the mining sequence, grade-control discipline and equipment availability are aligned with the plant’s ramp-up profile. Oko West is now building the systems that will define that early transition: drill-and-blast readiness, material movement, fleet availability, explosives supply and grade control.

Oko West is already a major employment centre before production begins. As of 31 March 2026, the project’s on-site workforce totalled 1,379 people, including 1,018 employees and 361 contractors. Guyanese nationals accounted for 82% of the workforce and the project had passed more than 1.6-million hours worked. 

The workforce profile gives the project a strong domestic footprint. A mine of this scale brings employment, training, maintenance capability, transport demand, camp services and supplier opportunities into the interior economy. G Mining is supporting the transition through active training programs and on-site equipment simulators as recruitment for the mining team advances. General and administrative staffing is also being built to support the shift from construction to operations. 

Camp infrastructure is expanding in line with that mobilisation. Installed and utilised bed capacity had reached 1,058 by the end of March, with a further 888 beds expected to be added during the second and third quarters of 2026. Full occupancy is targeted for November 2026. Near-term camp works include the permanent kitchen and mess hall, welcome centre, laundry facilities and additional dormitory delivery. 

Oko West is being built in a country whose economic trajectory has been transformed by offshore oil but the mine’s contribution belongs to a different part of the national story. Large-scale gold mining brings industrial activity into inland regions, builds labour and supplier capacity and supports a resource base that is not dependent on hydrocarbons.

For Guyana, a new operation with 350,000oz a year of expected average production would strengthen the country’s position in the Guiana Shield, a gold province that already carries international weight across Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. It would also add a significant non-oil industrial asset at a time when the country is working to convert rapid economic growth into broader productive capacity.

The local employment profile at Oko West gives that national role more substance. With more than four-fifths of the site workforce made up of Guyanese nationals during construction, the project is already contributing to skills development before the first gold pour.

Oko West may also become the foundation for a larger district strategy. In April 2026, G Mining announced the proposed acquisition of G2 Goldfields, owner of the neighbouring Oko-Ghanie project. The transaction is being framed around the potential to consolidate adjacent assets, shared infrastructure and mine sequencing across the Oko district.

G Mining’s first-quarter results referred to potential consolidated life-of-mine average production above 500,000oz a year across Oko West and Oko-Ghanie, with more than C$1 billion of initially identified synergies across infrastructure, mine sequencing, permitting, capital costs, operating costs and throughput expansion. 

That district-scale potential broadens the story beyond a single project build. Oko West is already material on its own but a wider Oko district platform could give G Mining a longer production runway, greater infrastructure leverage and a stronger operating base in Guyana.

The project is advancing with a balance sheet that supports the construction program. At the end of March 2026, G Mining held US$287.2 million in cash and cash equivalents. Including an undrawn US$350 million revolving credit facility, available liquidity stood at US$637.2 million.

That liquidity is highly significant in a construction market still exposed to long-lead equipment, cost escalation, weather delays and competition for skilled labour. Oko West’s procurement status has improved cost visibility but the company still has to carry the project through the more demanding stages of delivery: mill installation; power plant integration; tailings construction; mining readiness; wet commissioning and ramp-up.

The next major tests are now visible. Near-term milestones include further barge landing works, initial use of the wharf facility, construction of the main fuel storage facility, commissioning of permanent camp kitchen and mess facilities, completion of welcome centre and laundry infrastructure, steel erection for key facilities, delivery and installation of generator sets, process plant tankage, primary crusher concrete works and initial deliveries of grinding mill components. 

Oko West has become one of the most compelling gold construction stories in the international market because it combines scale, funding, defined reserves, schedule visibility and physical progress. It is being built in a fast-growing resource economy, inside a recognised gold province and under a company whose next growth step depends on mine delivery rather than exploration promise alone.

The project remains exposed to the normal risks of construction, logistics, weather, procurement, labour mobilisation and commissioning. At 19.7% complete, it still has a long way to go before first gold - but the character of the project has changed. Oko West is no longer an investment case waiting to be built. It is a mine under construction, with plant foundations poured, logistics corridors opening, power infrastructure advancing, tailings works underway and a growing Guyanese workforce already in place.

If G Mining holds cost and schedule discipline through the next stage, Oko West will reshape the company’s production profile and add another major gold operation to Guyana’s interior mining economy.