RING vs SIL

RINGBiShares MSCI Global Gold Miners ETF

SILCGlobal X Silver Miners ETF

In short

RING The low-fee way to own the gold diggers. RING holds roughly 40 gold mining companies worldwide for 0.39% a year, undercutting most funds in its niche, and it has been running that playbook since 2012.

SIL The original US silver-miner ETF, listed since 2010 and still the big, liquid name in a small aisle: about 40 global companies that mine, refine and explore for silver, rather than the metal in a vault.

Stated mandate

RING The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Solactive Global Gold Explorers & Developers Total Return Index. It invests at least 80% of total assets in securities of companies economically tied to gold exploration.

SIL The fund seeks to track the performance of the Solactive Global Silver Miners Total Return Index before fees and expenses, focusing on companies economically tied to silver mining.

Why people hold it

• RING At 0.39% a year it charges less than the typical gold-miner fund, and less than VanEck's GDX and GDXJ, the category's best-known names.ishares.com
• Pure play by design: the index targets companies primarily in the business of gold mining, so you get miners rather than a mixed metals-and-materials basket.ishares.com
• The mandate is global, not US-only, so the portfolio can reach gold producers listed across developed and emerging markets.ishares.com
• Live since 2012, a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, and one of the strongest builds in its precious-metals miner peer group.

• SIL The genre's originator, trading since 2010, now a multi-billion-dollar fund that changes hands actively, so getting in and out rarely takes gymnastics.globalxetfs.com
• Miners, not metal: roughly 40 global companies engaged in silver mining, refining or exploration, so production and cost discipline matter alongside the silver price.globalxetfs.com
• Rules-based and readable: it tracks the Solactive Global Silver Miners Total Return Index, so the lineup follows published index rules, not a manager's hunches.globalxetfs.com

Worth knowing

• RING Roughly 40 stocks in a single industry. The largest miners carry real weight, so one company's bad quarter is felt across the fund.ishares.com
• This is mining equity, not bullion. Alongside the gold price you take on company execution, mine geology, labor and country risk.ishares.com
• Income is an afterthought here: distributions come once or twice a year, not monthly.

• SIL It charges 0.65% a year, above the typical precious-metals miner fund. Newer rivals undercut it: SLVP at 0.39% and AGMI at 0.35%.
• A global book, much of it listed outside the US, so currency swings and country-level mining rules ride along with the silver story.globalxetfs.com
• Income is a side effect here: cash distributions land once or twice a year, not monthly.

Full RING profile⁠

Full SIL profile⁠