$19.14 million loss follows $18.58 million share-based payments expense

Manganese Targets Lead Great Dirt’s Exploration Progress

Great Dirt Resources Ltd (ASX:GR8) has turned a year of mapping, sampling and geological interpretation into a ranked pipeline of 24 manganese targets across its Doherty and Basin projects in northern New South Wales. Rock-chip assays reached up to 51.8% manganese in the Basin and Neranghi areas, including outcropping and boulder mineralisation beyond historically mined zones.

The company says the targets were generated by combining geological, geochemical, geophysical and structural data. Priority 3 targets, the highest ranking in the report, are associated with structures, geophysical anomalies and known manganese mineralisation or alteration and are recommended for definite field follow-up. The targets remain exploration concepts, not Mineral Resources or Ore Reserves, and Great Dirt says there has not been enough exploration to estimate a resource.

Pilbara Soil Results Become the Next Test

Great Dirt’s second exploration thread is in Western Australia, where its 67-square-kilometre Pilbara Project sits about 43 kilometres from Pilbara Minerals’ Pilgangoora operation and alongside tenure held by Wildcat Resources and Sayona Mining. The company’s review identified prospective granite contacts, structural corridors, potassium radiometric anomalies, historical lithium anomalism and mapped pegmatites consistent with potential lithium-caesium-tantalum mineralisation.

More tangible evidence is now pending. After 30 June 2026, Great Dirt collected 805 soil samples across priority geophysical and geochemical zones, including the K1 to K10 target areas. Laboratory results had not been received when the annual report was prepared, leaving the Pilbara project’s next meaningful readout dependent on whether those samples refine the target list enough to justify further field work or drilling.

Large Accounting Loss Masks Modest Cash Burn

The headline financial result is stark: Great Dirt reported a $19.14 million net loss, compared with a $428,424 loss in FY2025. But $18.58 million of the FY2026 expense came from share-based payments, including $17.19 million related to performance rights and $1.39 million related to options. That charge reduced reported earnings without representing a corresponding cash outflow.

Cash flow was less dramatic. Net operating cash use rose to $457,784, while exploration and evaluation spending totalled $453,720. A $1.45 million placement, about $420,000 from option exercises and a $315,282 research and development tax incentive helped lift cash and cash equivalents to $3.81 million from $2.67 million a year earlier. Great Dirt also sold its Nullagine tenements for $40,000, recognising a $34,387 loss against their carrying value.

Funding Capacity Comes With Equity Overhang

The balance sheet gives Great Dirt room to pursue follow-up work, but the capital structure is more complicated than the cash balance alone suggests. At the reporting date, the company disclosed 29.54 million unlisted options and 23.93 million performance rights, including 21.23 million rights that had vested or become exercisable under their stated conditions. The performance rights include milestones linked to the share price, a new project and 5,000 metres of drilling, market capitalisation and continued service.

The annual report also contains differing option totals between sections, with 29.65 million options shown in the share-based payments note and 29.54 million in the later security-holder disclosures. That discrepancy does not change the exploration results, but it is a detail shareholders may want clarified as Great Dirt moves from target generation towards drilling decisions and any further funding requirement.