Member Info for Stiperstones

Hi ML,

I don’t think your timeline is unrealistic according to my research. Ageos gave us useful insights a while back about the nuances of listing on the ASX. My subsequent research has delivered this possible timeline (one of several plausible options):

If Empire already has:

- several thousand AIM shareholders (yes)

- a market capitalisation well above ASX thresholds (yes)

- substantial Australian operations (subjective as to what is ‘substantial’ but I think 2.2bt of titanium and rising ticks this one off)

- adequate free float (yes, if cash flow projections stand up to regulatory scrutiny)

then the biggest hurdles to an ASX listing would likely be:

- ASX review of the British Virgin Islands corporate structure

- JORC compliance review of Pitfield disclosures

- CDI and registry arrangements.

Once those are complete, there is no obvious reason ASX would need a lengthy post-document offer period.

As a result, the shortest realistic period between publication of the final listing document and first trading on ASX could be around 1–3 weeks, compared with 4–8 weeks where a capital raise is involved.

For investors trying to anticipate an ASX listing catalyst, the more important lead indicator is usually not the prospectus itself but the earlier announcements that:

- advisers have been appointed (RNS confirmed)

- ASX admission is being pursued (RNS confirmed)

- CDI arrangements are being established

- an Australian share registry has been engaged.

Those announcements often occur 2–4 months before ASX trading begins, whereas the final listing document may appear only a few weeks before quotation.

Clearly, some of the above has been dealt with by RNSs as denoted. Nothing above diverges from your views on timing but remember the above is only from my research and thus one single opinion.

Best wishes.

I agree that the MRE is likely to follow the ASX listing but that is only my personal hunch. More to do with timing and market positioning. My confidence in the Empire team has grown over the year I’ve been invested. Like many newbies who’ve shared my journey during this specific time span, we have experienced a proverbial rollercoaster of emotions.

Nevertheless, other than the unfortunately used phrase of ‘circle the wagons’ at about the time I started to invest in Empire, I can’t fault the Board. Far from it.

They are meticulously reaching their milestones in a timely and measured way.

I simply can’t wait to watch this venture grow into something I personally believe will change my families future in the most positive way.

Onward and upward as they say. Enjoy the weather over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Best wishes.

Insightful post Fortissimo, thank you.

GGP

“BHP has not delisted from the UK, it’s merely made the ASX its primary listing.”

I stand corrected. Thanks for pointing this out.

Stiperstones

Hi tbow112,

“Quick comment. I believe an AIM listing has important tax implications which cannot be ignored.”

I’m in no way anything close to being a tax expert but from recollection one potential implication is for Inheritance Tax purposes if held for over 2-years in the UK. However, it’s complicated and often treated on a case-by-case basis by HMRC. So worth getting specialist advice on particularly in terms of trusts and handing down generation wealth in the UK.

Also, for those unaware, if you made a loss on Empire shares having cashed them in during the last tax year following the fall after the MRE, you can use that loss against future gains (if you make any over and above the CGT allowance). There is a 4-year time limit if I recall correctly, in informing HMRC. As always, taxes and rules change so obtaining advice is usually the way to start first. As with anything tax-related don’t assume!

Very astute of you to post this though.

Kind regards.

Thanks for the link to the BHP article. In reading further about them, I learned that in January 2022, BHP relinquished its London Stock Exchange listing, becoming a solely Australian Securities Exchange-listed company.

This had me reflect on my journey with Empire which has coincided with this being my first into the AIM market. I’ve normally invested in shares on the FTSE main indexes as well as occasionally in the US and German markets.

I’d personally compare my AIM experience so far as being analogous to the Wild West!

But, through the various conversations on this forum, some recently around share price movements, I’m looking forward more than ever to our ASX listing. Hopefully, as others have said, this will bring with it a tranche of experienced mining investors from Australia.

I’m not necessarily looking for ‘stability’ in the SP per se, rather a ‘steady’ upward progression following a procession of regular updates from SB. That’s the nirvana, but of course, and as I’ve learned over the last year, investing in mining exploration is an experience out in its own compared with many other sectors.

Asked why he didn’t invest in the AIM, a friend of mine said last year he stopped using AIM as he “couldn’t get out quick enough of a particular share if he wanted to”.

Once, again, thanks for the link to the article. It took me down another rabbit hole further enriching my knowledge.

Best wishes all.

Hi kr1988,

“As a rule of thumb those who have large sums of money don’t usually spend their days based on here. It’s usually those who have put too much money in and are now panicking hoping to recover what they pumped in.”

Or, they are simply interested in reading intelligent threads provided by some members who care to share their (1) relevant experiences, (2) career insights, (3) expertise and (4) investment-related questions seeking to widen their knowledge. It’s also interesting to see other’s opinions and speculation.

As I’ve said before, we’re all heading in the same direction, but might be at a different pace, path, timeline or final destination.

I for one, visit this page most days and constantly learn new things (after 40-years or more of investing).

Best wishes.

Hi Minihook,

Some of the new tax year transactions will be cost neutral. I instructed HL to ‘Bed & ISA’ £20k yesterday from my Fund and Share account. When they sold this morning at 9:02am they achieved 39.225p per share. Waiting for the buy in my ISA to appear.

Well, that’s Q1 2026 over. We ended 2025 on 39p (close of play 31st Dec) and 3 months later sat at 30p. But it’s worth taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture here. While some may focus on the fluctuations in between, it’s important to recognise the broader context in which the company has been operating.

Global markets have been under pressure throughout the latter part of Q1, with ongoing geopolitical tensions, economic uncertainty and shifting monetary policies weighing heavily across indices worldwide. These macro factors have impacted sentiment across the mining and exploration sector in particular and Empire has not been immune to that.

Despite this backdrop, the company has continued to deliver operationally. The promised drill results released in Q1 were encouraging (see Ageos’s posts) further reinforcing the scale and potential of the Pitfield project. Importantly, Empire has not stood still, drilling activity has been expanded into both the Thomas and Cosgrove areas signalling growing confidence in the broader resource footprint.

Another notable milestone was Empire’s inclusion as one of just 16 companies invited to attend the Canada and USA events in March. That level of recognition speaks volumes about the strategic importance of the project and the company’s rising profile on the international stage.

Looking ahead, there is every reason to expect a steady flow of positive news in Q2 as drilling progresses and results continue to be processed. However, the real inflection point is likely to come in Q3 with the anticipated updated MRE acting as a potential launchpad for the next phase of growth and market re-rating.

All things considered, the fundamentals remain strong, activity levels are increasing and the company continues to build momentum. Plenty to look forward to.

Happy Bank Holiday weekend everyone.

Thanks Ageos. Insightful as always.

Thanks too Manlord for sharing your thoughts. What is your view on the cash-raising through an IPO, if indeed this transpires? Where do you see the cash being used (e.g. infrastructure, Capex, Opex, etc.). Do you think this makes a joint venture or off-take agreement more or less likely?

If indeed the IPO is a runner, then the thread I started a couple of months ago cancels out a ‘cross-listing’ in favour of a ‘dual listing’?

Any thoughts?

I think it’s fair to say most posters won’t miss the constant volume of posts and green boxes and I understand why the ban on Dustyslay has been broadly welcomed. That said, it’s also worth acknowledging that on the core subject matter - particularly the mining sector - he does know his stuff.

His repeated references to the Lassonde Curve were easy to dismiss at the time, especially during the run-up to the MRE when sentiment was so strong. But looking back, the SP trajectory has followed that pattern pretty closely and a lot of newer investors have been caught out by exactly the phase he was warning about (me included). I’m not shy to say that I learned lot from him and respected his experience, critique and challenges. Close those avenues down and where do you learn from objectively?

So, while the delivery often missed the mark, the underlying knowledge and messages had merit. Probably a reminder to all of us to separate tone from content now and again.

As I said in the subject line, this won’t be popular but it has to be said.

Best Wishes to all EEE shareholders whoever you are.

Hi Manlord,

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I had completely missed it. My thoughts for what they are worth:

The Board, through its Remuneration Committee in May 2025, set share price-based performance targets of 14p and 18p for the award of director incentives, which were subsequently achieved in June 2025. Read that again, in under 8 weeks.

Following the very early achievement of those thresholds (8 weeks), the Company then delivered its promised maiden MRE on 14 October 2025 and subsequently completed a £7 million institutional placing at 40p per share on 30 October 2025.

This deserves a discussion around how the Remuneration Committee assessed whether the 14p and 18p targets were sufficiently stretching at the time they were set in May 2025 given both targets were achieved (within 8 weeks), particularly in light of the subsequent MRE and institutional validation at 40p.

We should request that the Board/Remuneration Committee consider whether future incentive structures will be designed to better align with key value inflection points such as resource definition, development milestones and institutional capital validation.

Additionally, we should also welcome clarification on whether the recent cash bonus substitution is considered a one-off event, and whether the Company intends to revert fully to equity-based, long-term aligned incentives going forward.

I salute the action to wind back the original incentive payment which would have cost around £4.5 million, but even paying £1m in bonuses at this stage of the journey doesn’t sit easily with me. I’d rather incentivise bigger longer term rewards than short termism, but that’s a personal observation.

“Don’t panic Mr Mainwaring.”…remember there has to be a buyer for every seller!

Hi Golferboy,

As we know, the scale of the titanium discovery alone — and the fact it’s near surface, consistent and already producing high-purity TiO2 in tests — makes it a compelling focus right now. The team is also still very early in the overall Pitfield area — only a small part of the known geophysical anomaly has been drilled so far (~20 % of what’s mapped). That means there’s every chance there could be additional copper or other metals in parts of the system that haven’t been tested yet; the company hasn’t shut any doors there.

I’ve got a smallholding (it’s a hobby rather than a business) so this would be my analogy that might help: think of Pitfield like a huge piece of land where early signs of several valuable crops showed up. As you survey more closely, one crop (titanium) turns out to be not only abundant but easy to harvest and has defined quality, so the first year’s work naturally focuses on that. If you still see hints of other crops (like copper), you don’t ignore them — you just plan to explore them in future seasons once the first crop’s potential is properly understood.

No disrespect Tornadotony but we don’t need to ‘attract’ State Street or NY Mellon Bank. We’ll have long been on their radar.

Thanks Ageos.

The technical detail of your post went above my own knowledge so I have to admit I used an AI app to further understand it (as someone with absolutely no geological expertise).

The timing of your post is also appreciated to manage expectations ahead of an RNS around the DD outcomes.

I personally don’t think the SP will increase much this side of the beginning of the new tax year (but I don’t mind being incorrect on that).

Hi Papa,

Feel free to continue to post questions. I arrived here mid-2025 following positive comments about EEE on the Rolls Royce board.

Forty plus years investing in FTSE100 blue chips and very little knowledge of exploratory miners (my only mining share was Glencore years ago). I’ve learned a lot from this board and its eclectic group of participants, so stick with us.

Not everyone has the luxury of time to do hours of research. I use AI for a lot of my research using AI apps like I’d use a business analyst. But not everyone has the knowledge or skillsets to use AI safely as a research tool.

Keep posting. We’re all on a journey - but might have different destinations - and different timescales!

Best wishes.

First half of this year from memory.

I struggle to believe ‘shorting’ a few blocks of 50k and 25k shares out of a total 710m listed shares would materially drive down the SP enough to be worth the profit/risk even when the total daily traded volume is modest. Surely, if an investor/trader was experienced enough, they’d have tracked and invested in companies whose SP experience stratospheric increases in days and weeks (such as the recent rise at Tungsten West and SML)? Shorting, in its true sense requires a lot of time as a sudden and sustained rise can be disastrous.

Why are sells of £50k, £25k etc. seen as shorts? If I’d bought at sub 1p I’d be happy to liquidate at 36p if I thought there were better short-term opportunities elsewhere. Just interested that’s all.