The economics of mining are complicated, but there are some similarities to the startup/VC complex. A big part of developing mines is exploration. Finding miner

The economics of mining are complicated, but there are some similarities to the startup/VC complex. A big part of developing mines is exploration. Finding minerals can be hard, especially in the north sea. The oceans are big. The difficulty is why there are still new deposits being discovered. Exploration usually happens when the company doing it can hope to make money off of a successful discovery. They might even pay for the privilege. Imagine a scenario where a company finds a motherload of oil after a low probability exploration. Their exploration contracts (being signed before the deposits were known) guarantees them a huge profit. Unseemly, even. They are earning that because they took a risk. Now they get their 100X. Try explaining that in an election year. New technologies are constantly being invented that improve exploration, surveying & mining. This means that there are new possibilities every year impacting which mine/well is profitable (minerals can be extracted at a profit. These all change underlying economic realities. A $1bn per year mine can only make a slim profit in years where commodity prices are high. It employs many people. The next year commodity prices change or some new mining or processing technique (fracking is a huge gamechanger) mean that some complicated contract is now worth a whole lot of money. The $1bn goes from a 2% margin ($20m) to a 30% margin ($300m) and everyone want a piece of it. Meanwhile government departments, unions, armies, etc are salivating over the prospect of this wealth. The National University's long impoverished Oceanography faculty has their eye on a fleet of research vessels. Academics are starting companies offering to do (mandated) environmental impact studies. There is a lot of pressure for money now, from industry, politicians, constituents. Politicians definitely don't want to be investing during their term for the benefit of politicians 10 years from now. The world can be cynical, but not always. Norway has done well. I'm not sure if any one thing can be learned from them. Have smart people running things. Meanwhile Norway have their own political traditions, values, and probably pathologies.