Open interest on silver futures blew out to 202,415 contracts Tuesday. The 7,051 added was likely was even more managed-money slinger shorting. Friday we will get the read on Tuesday’s positioning. These contracts now represent over a billion ounces of largely unbacked paper silver. There are 57,046 contracts still hanging around as the contract closes off going into another tense weekend globally. Yes, I know it usually doesn’t matter, but these numbers are volcanically extreme, just saying. So I’ll simply repeat my George Orwell quote from yesterday: “Whoever is winning at the moment will always seem to be invincible.”

The following chart shows how leveraged bond prices are to yield change at extremely low interest rates. The yields are up some but are still at crazy levels. Having 2.4% on Spanish and Italian 10-year bonds makes zero sense. But institutions that held them at the end of the first quarter have a 10% mark-to-market loss on their hands at the end of the second quarter. And their bond holdings far exceeds their tangible funds.

Fortunately for them, the ECB has thrown the kitchen sink at this tenuous situation and brought yields back down to la-la-land 2.12%, so losses today are on the order of 8%. This recovery is no “scramble for safety” I can assure you. You can follow the festivities here.

If we were in a real market in which economic actors looked out for clients’ interest and acted rationally, the bond story and current silver and gold contruct would have them running for the hills. But this is a system run by psychopathic criminal enterprises, and as such it is now almost totally about leaving other players standing when the game of musical chairs suddenly stops. Then the feasting and devouring can begin. The feasters will have huge vaults of precious metals (actual money looted out of western central banks — despite what Benjamin Bernanke says), very large incisors and a big appetite.

If the cabal and parasite guild was really interested in finishing off Europe (as I suspect) , then the FOMC interest rate increase would be just the ticket, along with the inevitable default in Greece, the renewal Russian sanctions and other suicidal screw ups. This does not look like “winning” in the least.

Continental has it’s new reserves and resources estimate out and has added two million ounces, and pushed the quality and the grade higher. Discovery costs at Burtica are only $15 an ounce. A full feasibilty is now in the works. The permit is due any day.

In my conversation last year with CEO Sussman I was told once the permit is in hand, the confidentiality agreements will be signed, and the deposit shopped. He said they had no intention of building a mine. The stock has had some good traction of late, but I am not selling any.