Understanding Investment Funds in the Mining Sector
Explore the essentials of mining investment funds, focusing on gold, silver, and base metals. Learn about top funds like Tocqueville Gold, Fidelity Gold, and USERX, their holdings, and associated costs. Discover how these funds diversify across mining stocks and physical assets, providing options for investors seeking sector exposure and growth in metals and mining industries.
Investors seeking growth opportunities often consider diversified portfolios that include metals like gold, silver, and other minerals from the mining industry. Among various options, mutual funds focused on precious metals play a significant role. These funds typically invest in mining stocks, especially those related to gold, or hold physical assets such as gold and silver bullion. Gold mining companies dominate these investments, but funds often also include silver, copper, nickel, zinc, and other base metals to diversify risk and capture sector growth.
Popular investment options in this sector include:
The Tocqueville Gold Fund (TGLDX) allocates approximately 9% of its assets to physical gold. Its remaining investments are mainly in mining companies such as Ivanhoe Mines, Iamgold, and Randgold Resources.
The Fidelity Select Gold Fund (FSAGX) has a lower expense ratio and invests largely in firms engaged in gold mining, gold bullion, and coins. Major holdings include Goldcorp, Eldorado Gold, and Newcrest Mining.
The U.S. Global Investors Gold and Precious Metals Fund (USERX) offers a broad-based portfolio in precious metals, primarily focused on gold but also including platinum and silver companies (over 10%). Key investments include Royal Gold, Klondex Mines, and ETFS Physical Platinum. This fund charges an expense ratio of 1.54%, plus a short-term trading fee of 0.5% for holdings held less than 10 months.
