the claim was that dividends cause value to leave the company,...

the claim was that dividends cause value to leave the company, which is obviously true, as a large chunk of cash leaves the bank account.

what I am saying though, is that that value grows back steadily over time with every shipment of ore the company sells, eg every 10 hours another shipload of ore is sold.

when the iron ore price is high, the bank account grows faster, when the iron ore price is lower the bank balance grows slower, but the point is that the value that leaves with the dividends grows back, dividends don’t cause longterm share price declines, unless the company isn’t generating profits, which clearly fmg does.