Coming up on 12 months since the Master Agreement was signed on...

Coming up on 12 months since the Master Agreement was signed on 21 May, and it’s fair for shareholders to ask a very direct question:

Where exactly is the operational roadmap for the rest of 2026?

This time last year, shareholders were being shown drill rigs mobilising to Timor-Leste, announcements around commencement dates, new discoveries, and a clear sense of momentum on the ground. There was constant communication around drilling activity, mobilisation, and progression at Ira Miri.

Fast forward to today, and we are nearly halfway through another year with no clearly defined drill campaign, no updated operational timeline, and very little guidance on how the remainder of 2026 will unfold.

The uncomfortable reality is that ESR is increasingly feeling like a “six-month stock” — active during the dry season, then largely dormant through the wet season while shareholders sit in limbo waiting for assays, JORCs, approvals and revised timelines.

To management’s credit, the extraction and transport of the 30,000t manganese bulk sample during the wet season was a major achievement. That deserves recognition. It proved operational capability in difficult conditions.

But timelines still matter.

The original Master Agreement milestones have now largely passed without being met. The market was originally guided toward a JORC target by 30 September. We are still waiting.

Investors were later told in Singapore that a JORC was expected by the end of April, while management also discussed manganese revenues potentially following within two months. The JORC timeline has now clearly passed. The revenue timeline technically still remains open — but the broader issue remains the same: shareholders continue to receive timelines that repeatedly shift without meaningful explanation.

At some point, shareholders need more than optimism and relationship-based assurances. Public companies are ultimately judged on execution against guidance.

If a major resource company repeatedly missed guidance by this magnitude, there would be consequences. Junior explorers should not be exempt from accountability simply because they are speculative.

The key issue now is not whether the assets are real — clearly they are. The geology, the bulk sample, and the scale potential are all significant.

The issue is whether management can consistently communicate realistic timelines and execute against them.

Right now, shareholders still do not know:

* What the drill strategy is for the remainder of 2026

* When drilling recommences in a meaningful way

* What milestones are realistically achievable this year

* Which timelines management actually stands behind

As we approach the one-year anniversary of the Master Agreement, the market deserves clarity, realism, and a roadmap grounded in deliverables rather than continual shifting expectations.