Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. While final approvals may...

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. While final approvals may still be ticking through, there’s no indication of a “hold-up” in the sense of ESR sitting around doing nothing.

There’s active site prep, access clearing, and mobilisation underway. This is a frontier jurisdiction under a brand new mining code. Being first through the gate comes with sequencing and coordination challenges that don’t always fit into a neat calendar.

Yes, delays cost money. But calling this a "critical gap in execution" assumes things aren’t progressing, when in reality it looks like groundwork is still being laid, literally. There are no idle days here — just staged progress that may not be headline-worthy yet.

We’ll know soon enough if it turns into a meaningful delay. Until then, worth keeping expectations in check.