It's a hamster on a wheel, run all you like but it's not going...

It's a hamster on a wheel, run all you like but it's not going anywhere. You can pump it out of the ground & if that makes you a great engineer, bully for you but ultimately you have to have growing net cash to show for it at the end of the day or a larger profitable business. This goes to ROIC, and that's nearly non-existent here. No wonder management bonuses are predicated on production- that's easy....if they tied it to profitability they'd be getting nothing & they know it. 5.5% guaranteed cash accounts trounce this & it's risk free. You might get a short term sugar hit, but it'll come from elsewhere on the balance sheet. Smoke & mirrors. Asset realisation and/or commodity price escalation are crucial to a favourable outcome.