Also note that market cap can be easily increased by more CRs to...

Also note that market cap can be easily increased by more CRs to institutional investors/insiders, which will make it becomes a money game, not necessarily linked to any resource upgrade. In that case, we would not expect any share price rise even the MC keeps increasing. So I think mineral resource is the most appropriate indicator for performance because it is the foundation for where the company would move forward and how much return it can bring back to shareholders.
I do agree including PFS/DFS outcomes as part of the criteria is plausible. But the issue is that it's very difficult to define what kind of PFS/DFS is positive or negative, as it really depends on how the market reacts upon the release of the news. However, increase in mineral resource is certain good news.