RE:RE:A fool and his money are soon parted.... Other points I would add:
I prefer investing in microcap gold explorers that possess only one, very promising contiguous land package. More sites = more equity raises = more money spent in a shorter period of time with said money being dispersed among multiple sites. If you're going through cash like paper towels, you can end up needing an equity raise at the worst possible times (e.g. at or near all-time share price lows), which can cause major dilution of existing shareholders.
Re. possible sale of the company:
A company is only worth what another entity is willing to pay for it at any given piont in time. Pontential suitors will look at existing drill results of course, but if no Feasibility Study (or even a MRE) has been completed for any project showing metrics like proven and probable reserves, initial and sustaining capex, IRR, NPV, etc., they would be assuming unknown / increased risk as they would be the ones funding the project with so many unknowns going in and thus affect the price per fully diluted share it is willing to pay for the company.
Re. possible Joint Venture:
Just as IAU management will try to obtain the best JV agreement terms for their shareholders, so will potential partners. If the target needs the cash and the suitor has the money to advance the project, the target's biggest card to play is the quality of the asset. It may be the case that the reason a JV has not been announced to date is potential partners and IAU have been in ongiong discussions but cannot agree on the terms. Thus IAU is left with multiple projects and no means (i.e., money) to advance them in a meaningful way unless they cut a deal with an entity that will agree to provide the cash needed to speed up the remaining drilling / planning, do an MRE and FS, then fund the initial capex to get the mine build started. Again, entering into an agreement without a FS in hand makes the endeavour much riskier for the supplier of the capital.