No precashflow company should ever be described as an...

No precashflow company should ever be described as an investment

they are all speculations. Probability of superior value of dirt in the ground vs cost to extract it makes one speculation superior to another (its always a probability calc because it's about what you think future values of the metals will be)

but they are all still reliant largely on factors outside their control to move from precashflow to operating miners

but thats why ppl speculate. Investments generally return far lower % returns

and most of the great 'investments' start as speculations - whether it's fmg or amazon