"Why tie up your cash for years before mining starts."

I'm surprised that you write such a sentence.

Buy now and you get your shares for almost a song. Wait a year or more and you are likely to pay much, Much more. Yes sp still could drop a bit more or even more likely to languish at present level for a while longer. Also granted I could have made the same comment a year or two ago and see what has happened since then.

My answer is still valid, only now we get a better bargain and the profit potential is that much greater. We have more resource now, know more about what and when the potential infrastructure needs will be and the whole topic is much more in the public eye, hence the time is near.
Two to three years for construction, perhaps a year more for wait and see coupled with bureucratic/lethargic time.
Because time is money that is why our sp can afford to languish for a while but when it moves it may be too late to get back on.

My cup is at least half full, Ed.