So, I've done a bit more research on the topic and it appears the rumours surrounding the silver market, have legs.
In particular, it seems the scuttlebutt pertaining to the Perth Mint has an element of truth to it. Specifically, they appear to have run out of minted 1000oz silver bars minted by themselves. However, if you want to take physical delivery, you can still accept Chinese refined bullion. ...(ummm, no thanks! Anyone remember the proven story late last year of a Chines refiner passing off gold plated copper bars as gold bullion?)
It also appears that ***** have released a media statement to refrain from commenting on their synthetic products (unallocated/pool allocated accounts). I understand that this means if a large number of holders of these products ask for physical delivery, that ***** won't be able to comply. I'm guessing that also probably means that the silver ETFs also don't have sufficient coverage.
I'm pretty sure official word coming out of the Perth Mint (ÿeh...we got plenty of silver!) is a smokescreen.
I'd be interested if any on the esteemed BT have Perth Mint paper Silver and if they do, maybe make a quick phone call asking to take physical delivery and see what the response is.
This is shaping up as a spectacular silver squeeze that even the Reddit crew couldn't have manufactured!
In the meantime, I've bought some ARD and BML, will grab my popcorn, put my feet up and see what eventuate over the next few weeks.
(20min delay)