The published short position on Noront is extremely low, however this does not include naked shorts.  Naked shorting is illegal but done everyday and i've long suspected Noront is being heavily naked shorted.  Why do they do it?  Because with zero investment they can drive the price down and cover (buy back) their shorts at a lower price.  The difference between the sell and the buy is profit, assuming they covered below their sell point. 

Going short is the inverse of going long.  However, naked shorting differs in that you do not need any money for the initial sell.  You simply sell shares that you don't own, illegally borrowing them.  This puts negative pressure on the stock.  Groups of crooks (oops, I mean investors) will work a stock down by naked shorting it.  They'll place false ask "walls" to give the impression of further selling pressure.  Retail punters will wonder what's wrong and sell their positions.  These sell orders give the crooks the opportunity to cover (buy) their shorts without anyone being the wiser.  Plain and simple, it's illegal, but happens everyday. 

With regards to Noront specifically, the shorts will eventually be forced to cover, and when they do, expect a large rebound to the upside.  Any glimmer of good news and you will see the shorts pile in.  What would be nice is if Coutts orchestrates a 'short squeeze'.  This is where they halt the stock and it opens significantly higher (gaps up).  In these cases the shorts never get the opportunity to cover until it's too late.  I'm quite fond of watching shorts burn:)  GLTA,

djje