Purely from memory there may have been a quarter or 2 when they...

Purely from memory there may have been a quarter or 2 when they were cash positive, but not many more than that. On the Balama side of things they really need average graphite prices above US$600-650 kind of thing and the amount of time it has spent there has been extremely limited.
Once production has commenced, any graphite mine, the product has to be qualified by the end user. Different sizes, different impurities, different qualities.
Qualification equals time. Years in some instances. Certainly took that long for SYR, I wouldn't expect it to be any different for any others.
Same goes for Vidalia. Once the product has been produced gets sent off to the end user for a tick of approval. Vidalia should be much quicker because it is an end product.

How can a plethora of others ever be profitable.
Theres the kicker. Until Balama is profitable, most of the other x Chinas won't be, especially the start-ups who are dreaming about their forecasts!

Been a slow process. IMHO it will continue to be a slow process. Deep value, but time has been and will likely continue to be frustrating and potentially dilutionary.