TDW, I think you answered your own question about the shorts and merger, when you said you sold 75% of your holding when the merger was announced and only just bought it back, it doesn't need the participation of gold bugs in this stock to influence opinion..
My other juniors seem to have bottomed, it seems to me this is all about people trying to profit from what might appear to be a repetition of 2008. However gold doesnt appear to be reacting in the same way as the 2008 scenario, only the holders of the shares trying to trade down a profit . Things will turn around. Probably here people will find it very difficult to trade when the float becomes so tight, funds will be no different, and as things develop (the pm value translating into profit per share), the share price will be making big upside moves, with the much increased volatility.
What people who have recently sold have to ponder on is how much they'll have to pay for the shares when the next financials are released