I, for one, don't think who gets to production first, or the...

I, for one, don't think who gets to production first, or the relative times to market, are important at all. Getting to production is what is important, what the other guy is doing, and how fast they are doing it, just doesn't matter. They will all have their product sold in advance of production. It isn't like the guy who gets their first is going to steal the business away from the other guy. Speed to production is the game, to take advantage of possible price spikes, and get their mines paid off ASAP. But there is not much competition for business when the world will be falling over each other for their product, and the price is fixed by the market.