Perhaps it is the situation that they have money in the bank and

have some  geologists on the payroll. If it was my company I would

take the position of that "your not getting paid to sit around" so I 

see this as a positive , active management. Just remember they

have specialists in each of the three categories, so they are

probably optimizing time, manpower etc. I'm saving my armchair

geology for spring. JMHO