AGMI vs SGDM

AGMIBThemes Silver Miners ETF

SGDMBSprott Gold Miners ETF

In short

AGMI Most "precious metals miners" funds are gold funds with a silver garnish. AGMI is the straight shot: an index of about 40 global silver miners, run at 0.35% a year, under what the category typically charges.

SGDM SGDM doesn't just rank gold miners by size. It tracks a custom-factors index of roughly 50 larger miners listed in Canada and the US, and charges 0.46%, under its peer group's median fee.

Stated mandate

AGMI The Fund is designed to follow an index of companies materially exposed to silver mining, with returns pursued before fees and expenses.

SGDM The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Solactive Gold Miners Custom Factors Index, which targets larger gold companies listed on Canadian and major U.S. exchanges.

Why people hold it

• AGMI 0.35% a year undercuts the category's typical fee and the bigger names beside it: RING and SLVP at 0.39%, GDX at 0.51%, GDXJ at 0.52%.
• Silver, not gold with a silver sleeve. It follows the STOXX Global Silver Miners Index: companies materially exposed to silver mining, listed anywhere in the world.
• About 40 holdings, passively indexed. The miners actually digging silver stay visible instead of being diluted inside a broad metals basket.
• Lands in the upper tier of its precious-metals-miner peer group, with cost doing much of the heavy lifting.

• SGDM Fee of 0.46% sits under the median for precious-metals miner funds, and under both GDX (0.51%) and GDXJ (0.52%).
• Rules-based and named out loud: it follows the Solactive Gold Miners Custom Factors Index (SOLGMCFT), and it has stayed close to that stated mandate.
• Running since 2014, a long life for a thematic fund, and it holds about 50 larger gold companies rather than a sprawling list.
• Lands in the upper half of the gold and silver miner group in our review, with high confidence in the underlying data.

Worth knowing

• AGMI A 2024 launch with a small asset base and light trading. Spreads can run wider than the category's veterans, and there is little history to judge it on.
• One metal, one industry. Miners' costs are fixed while silver's price moves, so their shares tend to swing harder than the metal in both directions.
• Distributions come once or twice a year, not monthly. This is a miners fund, not an income sleeve.

• SGDM Thinly traded next to the category's giants, so spreads can be wider and larger orders can push the price around.
• The index sticks to Canadian and major US listings, so gold miners quoted only on other exchanges sit outside the portfolio.
• One industry, driven by the gold price and how well mines actually run, so the ride is bumpier than a broad stock fund.

Full AGMI profile⁠

Full SGDM profile⁠