A few thoughts:– My guess is that whoever is still shorting...

A few thoughts:

– My guess is that whoever is still shorting already holds a significant short position, which they would be in the money on. They're probably shorting now because they're hoping to trigger a selloff which will allow them to cover what they've shorted since the NdPr announcement, along with some of what they shorted at higher prices.

– I think the shorts are trying to downplay the significance of the KMP announcement. Let's face it, most retail investors' primary method of assessing an announcement is the effect it has on the SP, so by pushing down the SP after ASM successfully reaches a huge milestone, they will keep what might be referred to as "bandwagon retail" away. This is important to them as the last thing they want is "bandwagon retail" bidding up the price while they're trying to cover.

– I'm not convinced it's Van Eck doing the selling today. As @Danielwhiterun mentioned above, institutions usually employ different methods to divest large holdings, and it looks like whoever is selling today is purposely trying to lower the SP.

Whatever the case, though, today's price action would've concerned me a lot more before last week's KMP announcement. Now I think it's just a matter of time before all this bs ends, and it's by no means a given that the shorts will come out on top.