Which approach is better (arbitration or mining)?

That would be hard to determine for anyone. Too many variables. Most importantly, gold prices over the next 20 years. If an award was calculated in today's gold prices and they then dropped back to $600/ounce or whatever, then we'd win big time with arbitration. If gold prices soared to $3K/ounce after arbitration, then we'd have been better off mining assuming no other problems.

I think if you can get an acceptable settlement now, you take it instead of waiting a few years for the arbitration process to play out.