> whether it is some mass chipped from the EmDrive (i'd bet it is the case)
This would make sense of the standard design, but doesn't seem to make sense for the photon loop described in the article. The photon loop seems to be an entirely closed system.
If there is a genuine effect, and as EmDrive generates more thrust than photon drive for the same energy, it would mean that EmDrive does eject some small mass at large speeds (kind of like super ion thruster) - whether it is some mass chipped from the EmDrive (i'd bet it is the case) and/or created using the spent energy (say some smaller mass boson interaction with some field which looks less probable to me) - that we don't know yet.