Step 2 is important, however, I would prefer that they focus mainly on building their reserves at Julius and Orelia in the ST.
Don't mention KIN. I watched that stock for well over a year and almost bought a stack around this time (2 years ago) when the SP was 9c. I held off at the time, as their cash position (then) was too opaque for my liking. Their past 6 months has been impressive and they are a quality outfit. I, too, missed the boat on that one, however, I am still keeping an eye on them. Would like to see their maiden ore reserve first. The way they raised $10.2m in May 2017 is something that Simon and Co could learn from. A SPP for $4.2m at 20c and the remaining $6m at 32c to instos, etc. As previously mentioned, I have chastised Simon fairly strongly over the way they raised. A rights issue to include ALL SHs would have been a better way to play it. Perhaps, there was a lot going on behind the scenes that we know very little about. Regardless, the KIN raising was handled infinitely better than EAR's one. They have done well to protect their capital structure as well.
Anyway, you seem conflicted. On the one hand, you stated that you were glad that you hadn't bought any EAR, and on the other hand, you state that you are worried about missing out on a potential transformational discovery here. While a decent new discovery will have an initial impact on the SP, real and sustained value will be realised once the company is in full production. A decision to mine was always scheduled for the end of 2017, and they can be in production in 2018 (same applies to KIN). So, a 3-5 year timeframe is what one would reasonably expect in terms of seeingmaximum value here. Rest assured, that they won't have an EV of $38m when they have generated more than $100m in FCF. $100m FCF @ 2.5 x cash flow = $250m MC. And this is being ridiculously conservative (but still 6-7 bags from here) (NST's MC is 22 x cash flow). On an EV per ounce of gold reserves - you are looking at a figure of $126/oz (reserves - not resources). Do a peer comparison and see what you come up with.