have a hard time reconciling what Ernesto is doing there if it's a waste of time

The facts speak for themselves. Ernesto has invested millions of dollars since 2009. How has his multi-million dollar investment in Copper Fox turned out thus far? Back of napkin math says it hasn't gone well for him. As the major shareholder, he's essentially stuck. Nothing good can come from capitulating when you're the major share holder. He made his bed, and he has to lie in it.

One thing worth noting is that Ernesto appears to be finally showing signs of growing tired of being soley responsible for maintaining the float in the company cash register; As evidenced by the fact that he only subscribed to a part of June's $1,000,000 Private Placement offering, instead of subscribing to the full amount as he has done in the past. Will be interesting to see if his support continues to wane in 2017, as I imagine even billionaires reach a point where they say "enough is enough".