Yes the options have proven to be a debacle. They would have been fine if EGA had stuck to the original DFS timetable, but finding all that gold really threw a spanner in the works.
It seems crazy that finding lots more gold would have such a negative effect on the SP - I suspect if EGA had kept to the original timetable the SP would be well over 40c now. At least all the options have allowed me to accumulate a large position without trying up much cash.