I agree.The vitriol appears to be coming from those who bought...

I agree.

The vitriol appears to be coming from those who bought at much higher prices. They want their money back, and they see the path to this is a rapidly constructed mine/ processing plant in Dubbo. The lost equity is a sunk cost.

ASM is a rare earth project that is permitted, and located in a tier 1 jurisdiction. And is in a region people not involved in the mining industry choose to live, as opposed to inland Western Australia.

ASM has a market cap of $215 million, and as at Dec 31 2022, had $71 million cash, and $18 million debt. Ian Gandel owns over 20% of ASM, and has fully taken up rights in capital raises. With ASMs net cash position, and history of major holders taking part in capital raises to avoid dilution, I cannot see a path to insolvency for ASM.

ASM is a cheap call on the rare earth industry. Mine development at Dubbo, will likely be the result of Federal backing, to secure domestic and strategic partners (eg Aukus) a reliable supply of rare earths to be used in tech, in particular military tech.

All the talk of insiders having select info and shorting, does not make sense. If this was the case, why did Ian Gandel hold all the way down and get involved in cap raises at much higher prices?

I view ASM as representing great risk reward at this price, it did not at a market cap of over $1 billion. If you bought at much higher prices you got it wrong and you need to accept that. You either sell out and move on, hold and stop whingeing, or add to your position if you also see ASM as representing good risk versus reward.