As mbot accurately pointed out, most miners generally don't buy...

As mbot accurately pointed out, most miners generally don't buy drill rigs, but rather have contractors do the work. This is especially true for mining companies that aren't very advanced in their production / revenue creation, let alone still exploring or making plans for exploration. For the sake of long-term benefit, you would want to minimise all the risks and expenditure on expensive capital at this stage. It's not like VUL invented a new strategy that no one had previously thought of - quite the opposite, VUL seems to be ignoring the basic principles of sound risk management. They sure got a chance to produce a new, flashy announcement though. And let us all collectively try to pretend as if every announcement and decision is a perfectly polished gem.