GOAU vs SGDM

GOAUCU.S. Global GO GOLD and Precious Metal Miners ETF

SGDMBSprott Gold Miners ETF

In short

GOAU Most gold-miner funds just own the diggers. GOAU's index also makes room for royalty and streaming companies, the ones that collect a cut of production without running the mine, in a concentrated lineup of about 30 names.

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

GOAU The fund tracks the U.S. Global Go Gold and Precious Metal Miners Index, which targets globally listed precious-metals companies primarily engaged in mining, production, royalties, or production streams.

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

• GOAU The mandate reaches past pure miners: royalty and production-stream companies sit alongside producers, so the basket includes the toll-collectors of the gold business.
• About 30 holdings, so the screens actually show up in the portfolio instead of getting diluted into a whole-sector basket.
• Does what the label says, staying closely aligned with the U.S. Global Go Gold and Precious Metal Miners Index it is built to track.
• Live since 2017, so there is a real multi-year record behind it rather than a fresh launch and a backtest.

• 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

• GOAU At 0.60% a year it runs above the peer-group median, and broader options like RING (0.39%) and GDX (0.51%) charge less for miner exposure.
• Thinly traded with a modest asset base, so trading costs can run wider than at the household-name miner funds.
• Concentration cuts both ways: with roughly 30 miners, one company's news lands harder here than in a sprawling sector index.

• 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 GOAU profile⁠

Full SGDM profile⁠