One thing to consider when watching the small miners is the claim by some of the Precious Metals writers that some of the hedge funds use a trading strategy that shorts the miners when metals are on a move-up to derive the money to buy the metals. Then, when the metals peak and turn sideways, they sell the metals and close the shorts on the miners.
I couldn't say whether this is true, but it gives us something to consider when we think about mechanisms for odd behaviors.