[blihp]

Because history has shown that the money is in selling the picks and shovels, not operating the mine. (At least for now. There very well may come a point later on when operating the mine makes more sense, but not until it's clear where the most profitable spot will be)

[mr_toad]

Don’t stretch that analogy too far. It was applicable to gold rushes, which were low hanging fruit where any idiot could dig a hole and find gold.

Historically, once the easy to find gold was all gone it was the people who owned the deep gold mines and had the capital to exploit them who became wealthy.