I don't know what you are getting at Sinbob but you have been seriously misinformed about my background, what I do and most of all based on your accusative tone, who I am. I have posted my views many times and many of the articles I post either reflect my views or to give people something to think about or help them stay up to speed on what long time experts have to say and believe. People have the choice to read or not.

I rarely short stocks and have never shorted AUM/ECU as you suggest and frankly I don't know anyone who has. You seem to have more knowledge of naked shorting than most and comment on it frequently, I defer to your expertise but not your degree of conspiracy everywhere around every corner.

The whole precious metal sector hase been beaten up over the last couple of years through all kinds of visible market practises like shorting, HFT, algos, ratio trades, etc. Some of it has been deserved based on missed expectations and poor cost control, some of it evil and deliberately manipualtive, I don't know anyone who knows for sure what percentage of blame to assess. Nor do I know when it will end because everytime we see some light, the darkness seems to creep in.

In my view the fundamentals for gold have never been better since Bernanke announced the start of QE3 late last summer and no one was more suprised or dismayed or even angry than myself at what has transpired since the beginning of last October at a time when all lights should have finally been green leading to what is normally the best time of the calender year for gold starting in November and especially given what has followed with Japan, ECB, etc. I have the monetary wounds and mental anguish to show for it as anyone who knows me can attest.

As everyone on this board knows I have been a long time sharholder of ECU/AUM and have known some large shareholders and communicated with them regularly over the years including some people who ran ECU and a couple BOD members. I presently still communicate on occasion with some of the old ECU large shareholders but less and less all the time as everyone has been disappointed and disillutioned by the PM sector and the last 2 years performance and in AUM slower than expected ramp up of production which I won't rehash here as everyone knows what has transpired.

Still, this having been said, I remain very long AUM and other PM stocks with a gold/silver physical holding among my investments and I still expect these to be highly profitable holdings going forward but as with most everyone else I have no idea when that will be as every attempt by every expert or my own analysis (30 years investing experience and this is the most difficult period ever to analyse bar none or understand given the interventionist policies of TPTB) to define this has been incorrect to date as incredible as that may seem and as hard to comprehend. I still believe all lights were green in the fall of 2012 and very distraught over where we are today, yet they will have to work harder yet to get my shares or precious metals.

I want to be clear for the record that you and I have never ever talked but have exchanged a few private messages years back on good terms as I remember. As much as you seem to be accusing me of something, I have never accused you of anything even given your posting record. I still have respect for the market experts I follow and expect them to be vindicated before all is said and done even if they have had some difficulty seeing the future or knowing what can't be known, unlike it seems yourself based on what you post. I do acknowledge interventions in markets as do you but I don't see conspiracies in every event or want to blame others for my own follies nor do I proclaim to be an expert on markets, investment banks or do I have the ability to know the unknowable or see the future and certainly I have little insight into who you are or were or are now but I have talked to people with a view on this but it's not for public consumption or discussion, it's private.