Lithium Demand surge, page-1475

I don't put a lot of stock (pardon the pun) on the short sales issue as I think it is normal SP process/behaviour (and not terribly relevant in the long term view) and is certainly mainstream in the FX market and so (maybe) in the stock market.
Having said that, I would like to ask a question that may have an impact on how we are viewing the current activity, and perhaps the more informed amongst us can answer this for me.
We see a lot of posts re the volume of Short Sales but it occurs to me that perhaps these numbers MIGHT include both the sale and recover phases of short selling. If I buy back (recover) my short sales volume, is that considered part of the short sales volume?
The reason I ask is that it may paint a different picture, both as the SP rises in the near future and in analysing current transaction volumes.
It may paint a slightly different picture of current activity as it seems to me that a lot of the 'short selling' may actually be a party buying and selling to/from itself to create perception and volume but not actually changing the beneficial ownership of the shares in question (accepting that some/most are actually borrowed/leased anyway).
I acknowledge the XT (cross trade) code flags some of this but perhaps differing company divisions may not be seen as cross trading with different ABN/ACN numbers in play.
Thoughts? Advice?