Hi. I wanted to chime in on this April 09 update from Silveraxis.com on the ongoing shortage of physical in the real world.

"On a different front, I am informed by a kind reader that local dealers have "a lot of silver" for sale in Ottawa in the form of 100 oz. bars. Those of you in Canada who are having trouble getting silver may wish to check the dealers in Ottawa or otherwise send me an e-mail and I will get you in touch with the gentleman who's familiar with the local scene."

I happen to live in the vicinity of Ottawa & granted I phoned only half the usual local sources, but everyone I spoke with had only a couple of hundred ounces for sale or none at all - hardly the "abundance" the silveraxis site reported. Could also be I was a day late (but not a dollar short) and someone else gobbled up the supposed hoard, but I doubt it since it's been tough for months on end to get ounces locally, even if you're a long time customer in good standing who is on a priority call list.

I'm watching the Coin Show this evening on the (Canadian) shopping channel and the guest Steve Bromberg who owns Canadian Coins and Currency in Toronto, also corroborated there is a real shortage of Silver in Toronto. He usually carries between 4-6,000 ounces of bullion in stock - often more - but his inventory has been drawn down to bare cupboards in recent weeks.

At any rate this is the reality of the real world of persistent & chronic shortages that is bound to spill over into a frantic scramble for shares in a very limited quantity of Silver Producers & explorers literally at any moment, and best of luck if you think you can wait on the sidelines in cash to buy back into ECU when the uptrend resumes as logic and fundamentals dictate.

One thing is for sure namely Silver is definitely shaping up to be the Gold Cartel's weak spot. The Crimex paper-based POS just doesn't jive with the real world POS and one or the other pricing mechanism has to give way to reality shortly. Either the Crimex Silver paper scam comes to an end and the futures POS drops like a stone while physical spot prices head for the moon, or the most likely outcome is the manipulators have to step back to the next line of defense and allow the POS to move closer to the real world price which by my estimation is $25-$35. If they fail to do so, then the Cartel risks a spillover lack of confidence effect into the Crimex as a valid place to accurately price Gold, and the whole gig is up and beyond the reach of those at the top of the pyramid who are trying their darndest to stop the inevitable day of reckoning we have waited for so long. My PM model suggests Silver will begin it's ascent to $25-$35 by the end of this month, so make haste and don't waste!