simon potter makes a statement of reassurance, page-14

as a trader, I find the price, volume and timing action very suspect.

1. We have had a sell off from $2.40+ down do core support of $1.41. This is understandable - concern about Ching, poor management communication etc etc etc.

2. Often - sell offs within that downmove have come ahead of information becoming public raising the possibility (albeit hard for anyone - even ASIC to prove) of insider trading.

3. Today - a quiet no news Friday. All oil stocks (except Hardman) steady or down a touch on low volume.

4. Hardman - low volume untill about 11 or so - then large selling that continued throughout the day pushing the stock down a further 5%.

What could this be.....

1. Someone with say 2 million shares deciding to unload on a Friday at the bottom of the market. Sure - but there are studid people out there - usually not holding that many shares in one stock though.

2. An institutional trader with some clout deciding to put a squeeze on the stock to trigger panic selling by folk like us who are already bleeding. Certainly possible.

3. Insiders in the Mauritania JV or Hardman itself.

If there is any bad news released early next week affecting Hardman, I would expect the ASX and ASIC to be all over today's trading.

I am not crying foul because I am loosing money - but because I think that there maybe a reasonable probability of insider trading - which makes it impossible for mug investors like ourselves to be dealt with honestly in the market.

I would also like the ASX to query Hardman about any material facts that might explain today's 5% drop on top of the recent falls.