Okay, I Admit It...

 ...I did not foresee the Chinese reaction to the SWIFT shenanigans. 

But who would have thought they would rid themselves of central bank reserves and foreign exchange by buying up all the copper in the world and returning to the Bronze Age:

We did have one clue that it was possible. 

In 2009 we visited The Telegraph's (now)-international business editor, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard:

China Goes to Copper Currency Standard

....Finally an almost cheerful appearance from our terminally depressed friend at the Telegraph:

A 'Copper Standard' for the world's currency system?

Hard money enthusiasts have long watched for signs that China is switching its foreign reserves from US Treasury bonds into gold bullion. They may have been eyeing the wrong metal.

China's State Reserves Bureau (SRB) has instead been buying copper and other industrial metals over recent months on a scale that appears to go beyond the usual rebuilding of stocks for commercial reasons.

Nobu Su, head of Taiwan's TMT group, which ships commodities to China, said Beijing is trying to extricate itself from dollar dependency as fast as it can.

"China has woken up. The West is a black hole with all this money being printed. The Chinese are buying raw materials because it is a much better way to use their $1.9 trillion of reserves. They get ten times the impact, and can cover their infrastructure for 50 years."

"The next industrial revolution is going to be led by hybrid cars, and that needs copper. You can see the subtle way that China is moving into 30 or 40 countries with resources," he said.

The SRB has also been accumulating aluminium, zinc, nickel, and rarer metals such as titanium, indium (thin-film technology), rhodium (catalytic converters) and praseodymium (glass).

While it makes sense for China to take advantage of last year's commodity crash to restock cheaply, there is clearly more behind the move. "They are definitely buying metals to diversify out of US Treasuries and dollar holdings," said Jim Lennon, head of commodities at Macquarie Bank.

John Reade, metals chief at UBS, said Beijing may have a made strategic decision to stockpile metal as an alternative to foreign bonds. "We're very surprised by Chinese demand. They are buying much more copper than they will need this year. If this is strategic, there may be no effective limit on the purchases as China's pockets are deep.">>>>MUCH MORE

Hmmm...since bronze is 1/8th tin maybe: 

Investing.com London Tin Futures in dollars

Awww hell. $46,412.00 +$784.00 (+1.72%) on the day and closing in on a double on the year.