GBUG vs GDX

GBUGDSprott Active Gold & Silver Miners ETF

GDXBVanEck Gold Miners ETF

In short

GBUG Sprott is a precious-metals house first, an ETF shop second. GBUG is its stock-picker answer to index miner funds: an actively managed, value-oriented and contrarian book of roughly 50 gold and silver miners, explorers and royalty names.

GDX The original gold miner ETF, running since 2006. Roughly 60 mining companies in one ticker, for people who want equity exposure to gold's economics rather than a bar in a vault.

Stated mandate

GBUG The ETF is actively managed and seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in shares of companies focused on gold and silver exploration, development, mining, royalty, and streaming activities.

GDX GDX seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the MarketVector Global Gold Miners Index, which is designed to represent companies involved in gold mining.

Why people hold it

• GBUG Actively managed on a value-oriented, contrarian screen, so the book can lean toward beaten-up miners instead of whatever the market-cap index says is biggest.
• The mandate covers the whole chain: exploration, development, mining, royalty and streaming companies, not just the big producers.
• Roughly 50 holdings from a firm whose entire business is precious metals, so each pick carries real weight in the portfolio.

• GDX Launched in 2006, this is the elder statesman of gold mining funds: a multi-billion-dollar portfolio that is very actively traded, which usually means easy entries and exits.
• Owns the diggers, not the metal. It tracks the MarketVector Global Gold Miners Index, roughly 60 companies whose profits swing on the gap between gold prices and mining costs.
• At a 0.51% expense ratio it sits right at the typical price for a precious-metals miner fund, and it grades in the top quartile of its 18-fund peer group.

Worth knowing

• GBUG Charges 0.90% a year, above the typical fund in the miners group; index rivals like GDX and RING run meaningfully cheaper.
• Launched in 2025, so the manager's record in this wrapper is short and any read on its risk profile rests on limited history.
• Thinly traded with a modest asset base, so spreads can run wider than the household-name miner ETFs.

• GDX Cheaper shelf-mates exist. RING covers global gold miners at 0.39%, so you are paying a bit extra here, largely for scale and trading depth.
• Miner stocks are not bullion. They carry operating costs, debt, labor and country risk on top of the gold price, so moves tend to be sharper in both directions.
• Distributions come annually or semiannually, so this is an equity growth vehicle rather than a steady income line.

Full GBUG profile⁠

Full GDX profile⁠