FYI my understanding is that the China Hengda customer & contract information is not far off being published so that should answer your questions.
I also think conspiracy theories on shorting junior miners are just that, theories, doesn't happen. First off where is the market? And second where is the liquidity if you get caught. No, it's just people waiting for things to unfold or moving their money on to higher profile stories at the time, so the market is thin on both sides & sometimes that causes stop losses to be hit.
See my LMB post today for my thoughts if you are interested.