shareholders

When the company was an out and out explorer I was happy to hope only for possible capital gains, this being the nature of the beast. However, now that a lengthy time has passed, the company has developed more into the nature of a producer ( which is making and spending millions annually) and my mind has turned from capital gains to some form of return on my investment. I think the company should consider rewarding the shareholders for their patience. and loyalty by way of a dividend rather than investing all of its earnings into development.
A strong possibility is that the price of gold could go down to a point where returns on development could be negligible. If all the earnings have been spent we may well have an excellent mine which earns nothing. Who wants to be a shareholder then?.