They've been engineering the whole Stage 3 operation for at least the last 12 months mate. See below from the September 2023 update, and note that all engineering was meant to be complete in preparation for an immediate start on construction of Stage 3 as soon as the 10 ktpa EIA was received. Well, it's now been 3 months since the EIA was received, and the engineering should have been good to go prior to receipt of the EIA, as per previous guidance.
The fact that it isn't complete, yet is still being presented as some sort of future de-risking milestone (rather than another missed target), should tell you that this is nothing more than another carrot-dangle to give you the impression that the company is actually doing something right now, when in fact they've been dragging out the entire engineering/design phase for over 12 months now.
The truth of the matter is that they've just balls'd up Stage 2 and have now run out of money, and couldn't progress any further even if they wanted to. Make no mistake, if a white knight appeared with $400m to fund Stage 3, you'd find that the engineering gets sorted real quick (if it's not done already and is just being used as an excuse).
The ongoing extension/delay of the engineering works is nothing more than a smokescreen to make it look like management are doing something, when in fact that are stuck holding their tails until the market improves in a few year's time.
(20min delay)