Member Info for Manlord

Q) Shaun, if we were to dream and forgetting the current Empire Mcap position, where do you personally see this company going and what value would / could you attribute given the potential?

A) Shaun laughs and says “What a question” Look we’re confident we’ll get the Titanium, we’ve enough testing and research to conclude that. Kenmare is the closest but they are mineral sands and have a value of $400m. We have something considerably more interesting and valuable. The Titanium market is currently £22b annually with a growth of 2.5% YoY and rather than majors coming for us, we would be a major. 10%-15% of the £30b market is a big number and with 32b tonnes JORC exploration target already confirmed we are in an exciting position is all I can say.

I missed a number of my planned questions relating to copper, employee incentives, renumeration, bod share purchases and 2 particular queries on the day to day work roles of Narelle Marriott (process development manager) & Arabella Burwell (business development) but we had run over the hour and I didn’t want to take up any more of his time as it was the evening in Perth, Australia and Shaun had just completed his workday.

I would finally like to clarity, just because these updates can sometimes be taken as gospel or with a pinch of salt, that all the above is my own interpretation of our discussion and as I would never record someone, I had to scribble notes and key words at a fast pace whilst still trying to maintain a degree of conversation and replies. Please make your own conclusions on the above, read every previous RNS, watch every presentation TWICE and then and only then decide what’s best for you. That’s what I’ve done.

Has anything above given us anything we weren’t already told via RNS, no not really, but my take on the meeting is that Shaun is extremely confident, capable and not in the slightest bit worried about day to day SP fluctuations when he and the team are focussed on the long-term success of Empire by building strong foundations and a step by step plan to production.

As per today, things have certainly strengthened my belief and I'm going nowhere for many years assuming we continue to do what we have done since SB arrived here.

IMHO this is very exciting opportunity and one which very well prove to be "not too good to be true, but phenomenally good and very true.

ML

Q) Is it possible to explore the old mines just west of Cosgrove (outside licence area) to see if our weathered cap continues?

A) 2 licence applications were already in place for that area, 1 was then subsequently removed by the person applying leaving just one. We are aware it and would like it for one reason only, but we don’t see it offering any real value, but we would be interested to ensure no cowboy companies encroach on our project in any way. We take our due-diligence very seriously and we always try to future proof all areas of our business.

Essentially it’s like buying the land around your seaview property, not to build more, but to ensure you wake up to those seaviews, rather than some builder obstructing your views with a new 5 story apartment block.

Q) How are Empire as a company ensuring they integrate into the local area without any issues.

A) I was presenting at the Three Springs Shire Council meeting last week, it entailed a detailed discussion on the journey that’s ahead for Pitfield. David Parker our commercial manager was also in attendance with Carrie Pritchard our environmental manager). The relationship with the local councillors and community is strong. Following on from the meeting Empire Metals attended a local charity golf event (in full company attire) and had a really good day meeting farmers, councillors and community members. It was Carries first golf outing, but I never got to ask Shaun if she was over or under par :-). As of the 25th of September the environmental studies have commenced with ecology (fauna and flora), baseline dust monitoring which will provide important background info as the compnay moves through the development stages. The consultants engaged in these studies are highly respected experts with in-depth knowledge of the policies and legislation.

Q) Are you aware that GSA Capital Partners have taken out a small short position on Empire?

A) I’m not aware, but please send me the details. Looks like people are starting to take notice of us (details were sent to Shaun after the meeting). Short was closed a number of months ago luckily for them :-)

Q) Shaun, in previous presentations, we had images with a Russian association showing MIG jets & rockets on Empire documents. Our target market is trying to disassociate themselves from all Russian links and it would be best to remove all these links where possible.

A) Absolutely agreed, stock images were used but it will be noted and not used again to outline “uses of Titanium”.

As of the 16th September we launched our new corporate website and it looks great.

TBC.....

ML

Q) Gerald Colamarino – Is he involved with Empire and if so what’s his relationship with the company?

A) Yes, we do have a relationship with him. We have paid a small consultant fee and he is on an agreement to prepare, present and potentially attend any future company meetings. For those that are not aware, Gerald created the series of short videos on Titanium which you will have seen on the company Linkedin page and our website recently. He is the MD & senior consultant for TiPMC Consulting. They deliver analysis, perspectives and insights in the Ti02, pigments, mineral mining and chemical industries. He has 45 years of international experience at DuPont, Iluka Resources (Yes Iluka ) & Bloom Energy. He combines strategic and creative thinking to deliver practical solutions for worldwide clients. At DuPont, he achieved significant cost and working capital improvements and delivered more than $300M in new revenues.

Great to have him onboard given his ties with Iluka and industry expertise. The number of industry experts who now want to be involved with Empire is extraordinary, and now add PB to that ever-growing list of industry BIG hitters.

Q) Shaun, Might I suggest that if all goes according to plan (I had to make that assumption on many queries I had) that the board discuss the opportunity of you becoming the company CEO, and not the current position of MD? I personally believe it would not only demonstrate confidence, but having a bonus / incentive scheme associated with any new CEO role would also align your interests with those of us shareholders. This would also be on the basis of share price appreciation prior to any role change, thus being well deserved.

A) Theoretically, if the company progress to where we believe it will, then this would of course be considered. The beefing up of the board would be needed to manage all the additional elements of a producer compared to an explorer so the level of independent non-exec directors and compliance would naturally increase also, all in line with a company performing and trading at higher levels than we do currently. Again, all in an ideal situation but yes is the answer.

Q) Enterprise Metals recently took up a license with Century on an adjacent property to ours, will this act as competition for Empire with Century or in terms of loans / grants from available sources?

No, this isn’t an issue, and we reviewed the opportunity as we have first refusal on certain Century areas, we didn’t feel it was right for Empire.

TBC......

ML

Q) Having been extremely bullish on creating a fully integrated mining, processing & refining company, I feel that there are 2 main concerns that investors have (extraction confirmation (all but done now) and funding), in terms of funding, how can we minimise shareholder dilution and build a strong institutional investor base or institutional funding provider. I'm referencing the Australian Government / Export Finance Australia / UK Brokers and Australian brokers if an ASX listing was ever introduced.

A) SB is not worried about funding, the company have had many offers from UK brokers (£millions) if we want it and he has turned them down as he said before. He agrees that the objective is to increase our high-nett worth holders but did say we have a strong shareholder register (circa 15%) via Australia & Hong Kong (Oberon etc), those holders are long and come from ex-mining backgrounds who made their money in the 80's, 90's and 00's. The one challenge with AIM is that we really need to be at £100m+ MCap for true investment. The big boys are ready go but when they invest, they invest big money (£2m - £4m is peanuts to these guys) but we have some very specialised employees to manage this area of our business (Peter Damouni & David Parker) who are heavily engaged with this topic. Again as per the recent presentations, 3 of the biggest, most reputable brokers in Perth have been knocking on our door having seen all our company announcements but as he said, no concerns about immediate funding, agrees on the overall strategy and will manage requirements as and when they arise. Assuming we reach where we want to, and burn rate increases and funding required, we have avenues for initial grants, followed by long-term, high value, low interest loans but couldn’’t answer if pre / post test plant leadtime (Iluka got $1.25b non-recourse loan from the federal governments critical minerals facility for a rare earth refinery at their Eneabba zircon mine in WA) but did make sure to say that retail investors are the primary consideration for him and the BoD (That's a huge statement of intent for me personally and his motives appear to be very genuine). Make of that what you will.

My view on that is I believe brokers are well aware of Empire but investors are not. This is good news in my opinion as we haven't exploited that investor base and being a more mature investor, fully clued up on mining, exploration and development, would offer significant uplift if we did ever exploit the opportunity. It's not as if we have to find more company updates, we just have to tell the story to a whole other pool of investors who might appreciate what we have more than the current investors who know about us. SB did mention the example of an Aussie explorer who went from pennies to pounds recently and sees no reason why we couldn't do the same in time (if things go according to plan – can’t remember the name sorry)

TBC.....

ML

Q&A with SB - I've updated areas that we now know from recent RNS's.

Discussion as follows; I'm paraphrasing all answers below, to be very clear and for the avoidance of doubt, Shaun & myself verbally referenced that MAR guidelines & framework were to be fully considered and respected during the call. Both agreed and we started the meeting. At no point did we stray beyond or even get close to grey areas and I honour these regulations implicitly when communicating with Empire MGT or any company I hold.

Q) How are the MGT and executive team getting on?

A) The team are getting on very well and had just the day before had all the key technical team members in a 6 hour workshop where they discussed the current plans, objectives and fully aligned on the company roadmap ahead. Shaun is extremely happy with the team that has been gathered and made it very clear, most were handpicked which he and the BoD had targeted due to their expertise, work ethic and overall ability to perform and deliver at the highest levels. The latest appointment of PB is a stellar one and the mining community will certainly take notice.

Q) How far advanced are we with the processing / extraction, mineralogical & metallurgical studies?

A) Things are progressing well, and he is looking forward to updating the market on the GEO-chemistry of our weathered cap. As he pointed out and conveyed during the last presentation, he is very encouraged by what the team are seeing from the initial test-work samples collected. Those samples collected will be lab analysed to see exactly what type of product we will produce, bulk testing continues covering gravity separation, magnetic separation and floatation separation. Essentially Shaun is confident that whenever the next market update is ready to be communicated to us, we will have a much better understanding of what we have. Now confirmed a heavy mineral concentrate has been achieved with high recovery of titanium and more importantly a high rejection of aluminium and silica minerals.

Q) Have the BoD considered a dual-listing with entry to the ASX? The reason I ask is based on my view that AIM is full of broken dreams and promises and I think that has hampered us somewhat where people have many examples of projects not being what was promised. Whilst our project appears to look phenomenal, I worry that some think it's "too good to be true".

A) I can understand that view and can tell you that the board have discussed many options including dual-listing, previously with a small team the focus was on AIM and the new found Ti02 project, the board have a strategic focus on doing whatever they feel is best for shareholders' and if they feel they have the team, time available (due to team getting bigger & technically stronger) and it makes sense to do so, then all market options will be reviewed in detail, assessed and actioned if agreed that route is best for Empire.

TBC.................

ML

Posting this again - Re; Critical Minerals Development Program & pilot plant costs:

It must be noted that there are various grants that we can apply for. The EIS grant has recently closed as it was a 3 year programme that started in 2022, there are other grants available from the Federal & state government that generally provide up to 50% funding of a project cost.

Empires current strategy of utilising the R&D tax incentive which they receive 43.5% for all eligible expenditure for R&D work is a good strategy as a large percentage of the current work i.e. metallurgical and process development meet that criteria at the moment so cash-burn is lower than what most might think.

The exciting bit is to come, applying for a grant to fund the pilot plant or continue to claim the the 43.5% under the tax incentive scheme. As soon as the pilot plant is designed and costed we would have to see which funding avenue is most advantageous for us at that point. It must be noted that you cannot have both, it’s either EIS or R&D tax incentive.

Latest funding round applications open in February.

In terms of ASX listing, SB & the board are fully aware of potential advantages of dual listing, given investors are far more sophisticated & have a very detailed understanding of the Australian mining industry. As SB said to me in an online 1-2-1 Q&A, paraphrased as I can’t remember exact words “we wouldn’t have to find or generate news for the Australian investor, our current story is the big news”

If anyone is interested, I’ll post up the Q&A again.

Great to see a few new & old names back posting here. I’ll post only if I feel I can help someone with a query or share information that may assist. Have a good week ahead.

ML

Such a promising company at one stage.

For those here long enough to remember, Corbs would be very disappointed to see where BMN sits today.

RIP mate

ML

Congratulations Dave.

I’m officially out. I won’t be communicating on EEE from this point on across all boards.

Good Luck to everyone involved with Empire. After almost 10 years of what I genuinely believed & hoped was trying to assist every investor in the company, I can’t stomach another day of this abhorrent behaviour from someone so Ill & suffering from clear mental issues.

I can assure you I currently remain committed to the project & will liaise directly with the BoD myself but from here I’m done, as arguing with such a belligerent imbecile is beyond me.

Take care all & the very best of luck to everyone.

ML

Great presentation slides.

ML

the noise, there’s plenty of it here this morning and as per usual on an rns day.

ti02 now being quoted from 6% to 9% significantly higher than competitors (avg 2%) and higher than our previously touted 5%. couple that with double the depth (30m to 60m) of easy strip material, well we’re certainly on our way.

govt will almost certainly get involved here too and sb & co. yet again doing everything by the book, on time & as planned.

there no doubt this is the best opportunity on aim at the minute and if people can’t see that, then i know of another market located closer to our licence area that will absolutely see what we have.

in my opinion, a dual listing would burst this sp north but again, discussion for another day. aim investors might think this is too good to be true based on the level of ****e on aim but not to worry, this will shine in time.

relax and enjoy being part of the best opportunity around.

buy, hold, top up - all going to reap reward mid-long term and that’s what investing is about.

gla

ml

“Why 2030? Because manlord told you, £8 to £10 was it? I'll play it by ear, few years at least. 2030 is we will own nothing, and be happy year. Not sure I'll be waiting around, to find out the meaning of that I'm afraid”

Dave, do you just come here to try to antagonise investors by pretending to be a fool? Either you are of low IQ, or you throw out insinuations and comments to bait people into unhelpful conflict. I’m certain it the latter.

Now you & I both know I’ve never told anybody to wait until 2030, that the SP will be £8-£10 or anything so far into the future.

Again for clarity, but I know you saw my last post here during the week so let’s not play games. It’s very immature & frustrating for all viewers of your running commentary.

The 2030 projection is based off SHAUN BUNNS thoughts that he sees no reason why Empire couldn’t hold a 10%-15% market share of the titanium industry & be considered a Major in that industry, projected to be a $30b market by that time. He has referenced this industry forecast in video interviews & at the last Empire Investor evening.

I’m only telling you what the MD of the company has said, not what I have said, but you know that already. Will I be here by 2030? Absolutely no idea 🤷🏻‍♂️

It will depend on how we progress, how commodity prices react, how WA mining community view us, how II’s view us, what the SP rises or falls to, how my own personal life requirements go, if I’m still alive, many, many factors will determine the next 5 years but what I am absolutely certain of is………….neither you or I know what’s ahead.

I have hopes & expectations - nothing more so please don’t make assumptions on what I think or believe.

Have a nice weekend.

ML

Let’s hope so Cev!

Just to be clear………

The 2030 projection is based off SB’s thoughts that he sees no reason why Empire couldn’t hold a 10%-15% market share of the titanium industry & be considered a Major in that industry, projected to be a $30b market by that date.

Lots & lots of work to be done, and a lot of things need to go exactly as planned.

ML

Hi James,

Agreed! Same over on LinkedIn.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/noricum-gold-limited_eee-ti02-criticalminerals-activity-7252243833206325249-fFOv?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios

ML

Dusty,

“It certainly concerns myself, that you of all people feel it totally necessary” - I don’t think it’s totally necessary, far from it. I think it would offer more positives than negatives based on the opportunity to tap into a more mature & appreciating investor, more familiar & experienced with junior mining companies & their intrinsic valuations. AIM has and will continue to offer a extremely important avenue to develop into a producer.

“And seeds doubt you believe, being here will harm us going forward” - I don’t think being on AIM will harm us going forward. I have never said such words or share views of that nature.

I hope that clears up my position on the ASX. My posting about the ASX over on ADVFN was in reply to another poster who mentioned the possibility of the placing being done to boost cash in an effort to meet criteria to join the ASX, which is not the case as we meet criteria today based on a number of items which I’ll share again.

Criteria to list:

1) Minimum 300 non-affiliated investors at A$2,000 each

2) 20% free float

3) Profit test of A$1 million aggregated profit from continuing operations over past 3 years + A$500,000 consolidated profit from continuing operations over the last 12 months

Or

4) Asset test of A$4 million net tangible asset or A$15 million market capitalisation

Let me be clear, this is my own hope, but if it doesn’t happen, will it change my view on EEE? No, not at all.

ML

Nice find Troajan!

Just under £5m is more than enough to complete the next important phases of drilling, and accelerate the ever expanding plans along with the increasing headcount of experts willing to join Empire.

Unique, High Grade, Tier 1 jurisdiction, giant scale, no waste, no stripping, soft rock, world class Titanium deposit offering WHAT WILL BE A VERY HIGH VALUE FEEDSTOCK FOR TITANIUM PIGMENT ORE & TITANIUM METAL INDUSTRY and confirming Empire as a CRITICAL METALS company!

Sounds good doesn't it!

Results and news due soon too, so value adding catalysts incoming.

ML

Good to hear Kev Mc.

SB had stated that he wasn't too happy with the overall quality of placing holders previously given some obvious 10%-20% flippers, and that it would be a focus going forward. Maybe he had a specific plan to activate this round of funding with core investors? I don't know as I have only taken part in one previous Empire placing many years ago via Shard Capital who I no longer have an account with.

I think it's also important to give people the respect they deserve, it was not too long ago that Cev (who I have not always agreed with) was being questioned on his "insider knowledge" having bought in the open market one and two days before a positive RNS a month or so ago. As he was buying all through last week (proof shown multiple times), we can all be certain that his motives and buys are genuine and have NOTHING to do with knowing more than anyone else. His buys at higher than placing price will no doubt be fruitful so he has no worries at all but it's important we remain clear on the insinuations thrown around this board at times.

The Empire ship is tight, but no matter what SB and Co will do, there will always be forward selling from AIM investors but given the drop was minimal last week we can be thankful that it's probably as low as can be hoped for compared to other AIM companies that see massive drops before a raise.

Did I think the £2.4m was a decent chunk to cover the drilling and Q4 newsflow? Yes I did and still do so I was slightly surprised to see this round completed but it only makes things more secure and gives us flexibility. SB has either played the greatest game of poker with me over the last year or he is 100% adamant & confident that we can take this to production all by ourselves which he has stated many, many times before. That's where he sees the true shareholder value and I hope we all witness this for ourselves.

He and the BoD do not want this value-adding opportunity to be lost and giving the team more runway to achieve that goal must be considered a good thing. It could be debated that this is a step back ( and some will which is ok), but just as likely is that it offers a few steps forward in the long-term and seeing as he has not given me cause for concern before, I'm ok with trusting his decisions at this point.

The only way now is forward but the one frustrating thing is that I don't hold 1% of the company shares anymore :-)

ML

Good decision for all.

ML

Dusty,

Do not mention my name with your lies about what you have called right & wrong since you joined.

I have a repeat post saved outside of LSE for everyone here which will tell them EVERYTHING you have said from day 1 so best you say a little as possible which as we all know is best for the board.

The cheek of you saying you haven’t once thrashed this investment!!!!! No, you just thrashed & ruined the entire forum for 6 months! 🤡

Do not mention me in your posts here.

ML

Hugely important RNS, whilst mining is considered a key industry & treated as such in WA, there are some non-negotiables when it comes to licence / permit approvals, sustainability & environmental.

Carrie P was taken on to specifically manage this area of the business, again allowing Shaun & others focus on their individual areas of expertise.

Great to see this & again, Empire / SB communicating very clearly & effectively that the expectation of commercial viability is a given.

ML

4Kandles,

I haven’t seen any post, nor read it anywhere.

The point I was making was that any comment here from posters with no involvement with Empire (usually negative) has been jumped on and discussed endlessly.

We last had it in April / May by a poster who has all but been confirmed as having a stake in SVML. We all need to focus on facts and not that you should or do care, but if you tell me this other poster (don’t know their name sorry) is trying to follow you around and make up stories then that’s good enough for me.

This wasn’t about you, it was about the content of more BS rumours gathering traction and disrupting the board.

You have my apologies if I have offended you.

ML