To be honest I don't know how they do it, paying dividends and having 70m shares on issue over a decade of bringing 5-6 mines to production.
In fact I think the gold industry should invoke a new rule. If you're a producer not paying a dividend then close your mines.
Of the billions of dollars in Australian gold exports I wonder how much is returned to shareholders as a dividend? It would have to be a millionth of 1% I reckon.