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Hi Apso, Crudeoink,

Well said, both.

I think one of the biggest challenges with investing is separating price from value. The market can remain irrational for far longer than sometimes we expect, whether that’s over weeks, months or even years. Short term price action doesn’t change the underlying fundamentals and that’s if we head north or south.

Personally, I actually think Empire was probably closer to fair value around Aug / September last year based on what we knew then. Since that point we’ve had a succession of major de-risking milestones across metallurgy, the flowsheet, project development and the broader path towards commercialisation, but the SP has remained around similar levels. To me, that suggests the company is now even more undervalued than it was then.

That’s simply my investment process and if I believe the risk has reduced while the valuation has become cheaper, then each additional share potentially offers better long term upside. Others will quite rightly have different views, and that’s what makes a market.

None of this means success is guaranteed. Empire still has plenty of work ahead as every mining project has to progress through the same development stages, and no company gets to skip them. But if you understand those milestones, the timelines involved and the scale of what management is attempting to build, then the day to day noise becomes far less relevant.

Anyone for another analogy?

If an Empire investor was out walking their dog today, and got hit by a car and somehow fell into a five year coma but thankfully woke up in 2031, they’d probably have had a far less stressful experience than someone watching every tick up and tick down, every forum post and every daily SP close. If the fundamentals continue improving, it’s the long term destination that ultimately matters and certainly not every twist and turn along the way. I believe we’ll get there and will invest on that basis, if at any stage the thesis changes, I won’t.

Now where’s the dog lead?

ML

Hi Unclevic,

The presentation did absolutely nothing if you look at the run up and run down. It was a traders event in terms of short term buying and selling. For Shareholders it was a good listen.

Looking at today’s SP, the reaction appears to be almost identical to what happened at the last investor meeting in Nov 2025.

People bought ahead of the presentation expecting / hoping for a surprise or some new announcement but instead the BoD delivered a solid operational update, but with no real new info beyond what was already in the public domain. It looks like short-term traders have then sold after the meeting.

The SP went up 19% the day before the last meeting and dropped 9% after that meeting. This time, the shares gained 10% yesterday and dropped back 7% afterwards.

These presentations are clearly a great way of engaging with shareholders, particularly new investors, but if there is no new info that can be discussed because of regulatory constraints, or no news to share, IMHO they can unintentionally create expectations (valid of otherwise) that are difficult to meet.

Today’s drop doesn’t in any way reflect the quality of what we have or the long term outlook, but it appears to be another example of investors buying the anticipation and then selling the news, not surprising I suppose and that will never change.

Part and parcel of the junior mining space, albeit slightly frustrating.

It may therefore be worth considering whether these investor meetings should be timed to coincide with meaningful news flow where possible, i.e. potentially arrange it for the days after the MRE upgrade for example or after the Cosgrove results come out or at least position the meeting as nothing more than a general shareholder update rather than a potential event where shareholders are expecting a market moving announcement to land minutes before the call.

Not the companies fault, not shareholders fault but just one of those things. Personally I would have tried to have the meeting on the morning of the flowsheet breakthrough RNS a few weeks back. Of course there’s likely more challenges that I’m aware of and nothing is ever that easy but that’s my simplistic view. As has been pointed out, it might have been planned around Cosgrove results but the timelines just didn’t align. Many factors involved but definitely more to be gained by newer investors than LT investors IMHO.

Crux interview added more meat to the bone from earlier.

ML

H1 complete,

Share price Jan 1st 45p

Share price June 30th 45p.

On the face of it, H1 has been flat, but zoom in and the picture looks very different Up 10% today, up 17% last week, up 21% last month, up 50% over the last 3 months, up 21% over the last 6 months, up 68% last year, up 463% over the last 2 years and up 1,806% over the last 5 years. Not bad at all.

Just a few highlights from the first 6 months which were anything but flat in terms of fundamental development of Pitfield.

Integrated flowsheet delivered by successfully producing 99%+ TiO2 pigment using a conventional, end to end processing route.

Premium product suite expanded with the process demonstrating potential production of titanium sponge feedstock and high grade alumina as a valuable co-products.

Major drilling programme completed. Hundreds of holes and ‘000’s of meters drilled significantly expanding the geological understanding of the area.

Updated MRE on the way likely to double resource and increase avg grade.

Cosgrove discovery advanced with continued drilling highlighting the scale and growth potential beyond the existing resource. Results might fall in 7 hrs or so?

Metallurgical de-risking continued with ongoing test work consistently validating the process flowsheet and development pathway.

Strengthened technical team with key appointments across project development, commercial, metallurgy and environmental disciplines.

Invited onto the Australian Critical Minerals Association trade delegation to North America confirming the validation of Pitfield’s growing strategic importance to Western critical mineral supply chains.

ASX dual listing preparations continued having recently confirmed it remains on track for an H2 launch. Should hear more about this today.

Non-core Eclipse asset sold with money recycled into advancing the Pitfield.

£14.5m available cash provided by LT II’s.

Global profile continues to grow with major mining and critical minerals conferences attended which further increase the awareness of Pitfield amongst a global mining community.

So yes, H1 closed flat but the project certainly didn’t.

Let’s hope we close out today with a bang which starts with the investor presentation and Q&A at 9:00am.

Then it’s time for H2 and IMHO it was always going to be where the fireworks get lit. The only thing we don’t know is how long the fuse is. One thing I am convinced of is this, there are no dud rockets here, just like the holes drilled. When this moves, we will leave the current MC (exactly £1/3b) and head towards a £1b+ MC, not tomorrow, not next week or next month, but I do believe we will reach that point and more soon.

Already 50% up on my 28p top up purchases so if you believe in Pitfield, and you believe it’s being de-risked, then ignore the noise and follow your own beliefs & research. I’ll continue to do so and wish everyone well with whatever you decide to do personally.

ATB

DYOR

ML

Thank you ShepDave & Cymro Bach (TG Group), excellent find 👍🏼

It’s great to see us working alongside Murdoch Uni on technology like this that could hopefully produce titanium metal directly from Pitfield ore.

We’ve said it many times but Pitfield is exactly the sort of project govts should be backing as it combines critical minerals, downstream processing, lower emission technology, uni research and clearly shows the ambition to build sovereign refining capability in Aus rather than exporting raw materials to other countries which is the whole plan overall.

Add in the involvement of the Critical Metals CRC and it’s becoming very obvious just how strategically important Pitfield could be to Aus CM ambitions. I’m 100% expecting grant funding and govt support to be part of the story as Pitfield progresses, absolutely no doubt about it.

Every announcement now seems to reinforce the same thing, that we’re building a strategically important CM project with the opportunity to capture far more of the value chain within Aus. That’s exactly what govts, strategic investors and major industry participants are looking to support so as we provide more and more technical milestones, I think this is a no brainer that we’ll be backed to the hilt with money. Not only that but we’ll have additional technical expertise and direct govt support which would assist any permitting and likely expedite development timelines you’d imagine?

I really think H2 has the potential to unlock the next phase of development here with an upgraded MRE, continued metallurgy, the ASX listing (I want an update on this 9am Tuesday) bringing greater visibility of the company to Aussie investors and we have pilot work and the feasibility studies that should all add important data to close out the year.

My understanding (from SB) is that the feasibility stage is where govts, strategic investors and institutional backers would feel they now have enough technical and economic info to make meaningful funding decisions. This is mainly around govt funding as no department or ministry can be seen to throw millions at a project, using public money when no hard data is available. There would naturally be questions and in a world where oversight is becoming more important (unfortunately and not always for the better IMO) it’s an absolute must before they could get involved fully.

CTD…..

Again, while taking stock of the current situation at Empire and reassessing ahead of what should be a pivotal H2, it is worth remembering that we have come through what many would consider a particularly difficult period between Oct ‘25 and April ‘26.

It wasn’t your typical consolidation either where a share price simply trades sideways for 6 months. We came down from the highs around 80p, but for me that 80p represented price discovery rather than a level where the market had genuinely settled and consolidated for any meaningful period. It was a rapid move higher followed by a sharp retracement.

As for the 40p institutional raise, I have my own views and something about that entire period never sat quite right with me and still doesn’t, purely from observing the SP action, the trading patterns and the way the market behaved around it. That is only a personal observation and, ultimately, we move on.

The key point is that we are now entering a period that IMHO should be considerably more fruitful.

When we broke out of the 30p range last summer, much of the excitement was built around potential. There was plenty to look forward to, but a lot still needed to be proven.

Now, many of the things we were hoping for back then have either been delivered or are substantially de-risked. We now have a defined resource, a significantly advanced metallurgical flowsheet, premium-grade product outcomes, a growing technical team, increasing government and strategic interest, and what appears to be a clear pathway towards economic studies which I’ve been told hold the key to significant and direct investment from Govt / II’s / Strategic partnerships.

That’s why I continue to believe we have a realistic route to becoming a £750m to £1b+ company over time. Every back of the envelope calculation I run using what I consider to be ultra conservative assumptions still brings me back into that range as a minimum. If things develop even better than expected, who knows where it ultimately ends up.

It is also worth keeping recent performance in perspective as the company took a hammering for lack of performance (SP wide) over the last 6 months.

We’re up roughly 40% over the last 3 months and around 28% over the last month alone.

Over similar time, look at some others.

UOG is down around 23%.

PALM is down around 3%.

Newmont is down around 13%.

Agnico Eagle is down around 15%.

IPERIONX is down around 30%.

Power Metallic is down around 33%.

Sovereign is down around 13%

Greatland Gold is down around 10%.

BHP is down around 7%.

Glencore is down around 10%.

Rio Tinto is down around 12%.

CTD……

Thanks Mr.Burton.

For anyone planning on submitting questions, the ones below have been covered by my own submission.

1) Management has previously indicated that an ASX listing was likely to occur during H2 2026. Can you provide shareholders with a clear update on where the process currently stands, what key milestones remain to be completed, and whether that H2 timeline remains on track?

2) You have previously discussed engaging with potential end users and getting in front of potential customers as early as possible. Can you provide an update on the level of engagement taking place today and what milestones still need to be achieved before formal offtake discussions become realistic?

3) Many investors view mining projects as carrying significant scale-up risk between successful lab results and commercial production. Following the recent flowsheet breakthroughs, how much has that risk now been reduced at Pitfield, and does management believe the project remains a largely binary proposition, or one where the major technical risks have already been substantially de-risked?

4) Over the past 7 months the company has delivered a steady stream of positive technical, metallurgical and corporate developments, yet the market valuation has remained relatively subdued compared to previous highs. While management cannot comment on daily share price movements, do you believe the market is currently recognising the progress that has been made at Pitfield, and what milestones do you think are most likely to bridge the gap between technical success and market recognition? In your opinion, is the company currently undervalued, or is the MC a fair indication of current position?

5) Following completion of the integrated metallurgical flowsheet, what are the key remaining technical and development workstreams required before economic evaluation studies can be delivered? Given previous comments that projects often begin attracting meaningful government and strategic funding support once economic studies are available, does management believe Pitfield is now moving into that phase of development, and how advanced are discussions with potential government or funding partners?

6) The recent flowsheet work highlighted the potential recovery of high grade alumina alongside the titanium products. How significant could this co-product become in the overall project economics, and is management becoming increasingly encouraged by its potential value contribution?

7) With approximately £14.5m in cash, what are the major value creating milestones management expects to deliver before additional funding may be required?

8) Has interest from governments, export credit agencies, strategic investors, industrial partners, or potential downstream partners increased following the recent metallurgical breakthroughs and growing focus on secure Western titanium supply chains?

Unlikely to have all these answered but submitted anyway.

ML

Today’s RNS was another very positive update IMO and again confirms what’s likely ahead for the company but one thing I would encourage people to do is try and separate the SP from the project itself.

Based on a comment earlier of the drop from open was probably due to people with far higher averages trying to get out it got me thinking “Are there Empire investors doing that?”

Since the run up into last year’s MRE and the subsequent highs around 70p - 80p, a lot has happened, both in the market and in Empire but I still see such comments around previous SP levels rather than where the project actually stands today.

Investor psychology is unbelievably fascinating to me, one we all suffer at some point of our investment journeys. Some people I’m sure are anchored to the highs and think “I’ll sell if I can just get some money back.” Others have experienced loss aversion, where the fear of further losses outweighs the opportunity of future gains and some are looking at opportunity cost after months of waiting and understandably wondering whether their capital could be working harder elsewhere. Then there’s the holders who have broken trust because the share price moved against them, and their emotions inevitably become tied to the investment at that SP.

What I would suggest, however, is that now is probably as good a time as any to reassess the project based on where it stands today, not where the SP stood last Sept.

If Empire were coming to market today for the first time, with a multi-billion tonne resource, a clearly defined higher grade core, a progressing flowsheet capable of producing premium grade TiO2 products, growing commercial engagement, increasing institutional support, a strengthened technical team and multiple development workstreams underway, with an ASX listing incoming, what valuation would you place on it?

That question may lead some to buy, some to hold and some to sell. The answer will be different for everyone here depending on their own personal circumstances, appetite to risk and macro conditions either supporting the markets or not!

My point is that decisions should be based on today’s facts and tomorrow’s potential, rather than being driven solely by previous share price highs, previous losses or emotions attached to either.

Sometimes the hardest thing to do as investors is to look at an investment with fresh eyes and ask ourselves one simple question:

“If I didn’t already own this today, what would I do?”

For me, I’ll continue to buy with every de-risking news release no matter what the SP does as it’s my firm belief that the MC will exceed £1b+ at some point in the future.

CTD…..

In my view, H1 has actually gone very well, but I never thought H1 was going to be where the real value was unlocked. That was H2, so the litmus test for Empires figure valuation starts in 2 weeks.

What we’ve seen over the last 6 months is a huge amount of work happening in the background. Frustrating for some, but the biggest drilling programme ever taken on by Empire has been completed, we’ve continued to expand Pitfields footprint and we’ve secured another £7m of funding, taking the cash position to around £14.5m, we’ve brought Zeus on board alongside Canaccord, we’ve delivered a fully integrated flowsheet and, importantly, started talking about premium TiO2 products, titanium feedstock and now potentially alumina as a valuable co-product.

H1 was about reducing risk and every time we answered another technical unknown, the project became easier to understand and with that, value it. The truth is, 6 months ago people could still question whether Pitfield was just a large titanium resource, but now we have a much clearer picture of how mgt intend to turn it into a fully integrated titanium business.

That is why I think H2 is where the big value drivers await. We still have the MRE upgrade to come, further drilling results including Cosgrove, more detail around the economics, potential broker updates (when latest updates can be valued), possible strategic interest and whatever additional work David Parker, Michael Tamlin and the team are doing behind the scenes with end users and the supply chain.

At 35p or thereabouts (MC £260m) the market appears to be acknowledging that Pitfield is significant, but IMHO, it’s still a long way from pricing it as a future globally significant titanium project. Right now the market is saying show me the next layer of proof!

Whether that gets us to 50p, 70p, £1 by Aug, Sept or Christmas time is impossible to know, but my overall view hasn’t changed one bit. If anything, my confidence in the direction of travel (Simon Jordan Phrase sorry) has increased, even if the timing remains uncertain.

The biggest change for me is that Empire now looks like a company building a titanium business rather than proving up a titanium resource, and I suspect that distinction is where a lot of the future value will ultimately come from.

Thanks to AGEOS for the reminder and refresh on the shareholder side of the story. I am fully aligned with the view that the level of ownership and continued commitment from Claire Barnes and associated Asian investment interests is a very positive signal. It’s obviously no guarantee of success, but when investors of that calibre, experience and background continue to maintain meaningful positions, it is difficult to view that as anything other than encouraging. They’ll have their own reasons for investing, but from my perspective it certainly adds to my confidence which had already determined Pitfield as a compelling investment opportunity.

ML

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