If this was in Australia then it would have been mined and gone...

If this was in Australia then it would have been mined and gone if it was easy to mine and process. This area has been explored and mined for many decades and burnt a lot of investors. Explore is one small win, it is all subject to many other factors - weather, location (stable enough to build infrastructure and processing plant, indigenous people, agriculture industry, politic, and right people and the list goes on. Check out the history of European, Japanese and Chinese all have been through this area before and all learned their lessons.