While the gold mining funds have been on top of the rankings in 2025, the mining companies (as we have written about before) are still extremely cheap. Their strong cash flows are not yet reflected in their share prices. Silver miners are also improving their results.
AuAg Macro - Monetary Inflation
The next phase of money creation in the financial system has begun. The most common metric used to measure the amount of money is ‘M2’, Money Supply (see the chart below). Normally, the money supply is increased to keep the financial system afloat and to avoid deep recessions so that the "wheels keep turning". A rising M2 curve is an indicator that the printing presses have come to life and monetary inflation is picking up again.
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AuAg Macro - Electrification
The electrification of the world is advancing rapidly, yet we are still only at the beginning of this megatrend. This transformation is driven by our ability to generate increasing amounts of electricity at lower costs, alongside ongoing innovation and the growing need for efficient electricity transmission. In this regard, copper plays a crucial role, and significantly more copper will be required over the next 5, 10, and 20 years.
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Copper demand is now rising at a pace that supply cannot keep up with, suggesting a higher copper price in the future. Limited supply, combined with strong demand, is driving prices upward. While the copper price has begun to increase, it still has significant room to "catch up," as it is not rising as quickly as, for example, the gold price. When copper prices truly take off, it will strongly benefit the miners extracting copper, particularly those whose primary focus is copper production, as they stand to be the biggest winners.
Fund of the Month
AuAg Essential Metals, also known as “Doctor Copper,” is a broader metals fund. Unlike AuAg Silver Bullet and AuAg Gold Rush, which primarily provide exposure to silver and gold, respectively, AuAg Essential Metals offers exposure to industrial and new-technology metals. Some examples of metals mined by the fund’s companies include rare earth elements, copper, and uranium.
Right now, it is remarkable how little capital is being allocated to buying shares and owning companies that extract metals like copper. Surely, no one has missed that the U.S. president, Donald Trump, has shown interest in Mexico, Canada, and Greenland—but why? What is it they are after? These three countries all have significant reserves of essential metals that are crucial for their future and the future of our world.
Although the meeting between the United States and Ukraine was a disaster (for everyone), the idea and the greatest desire for the US was to take advantage of Ukraine's mineral reserves. The entire US peace plan and the communicated ‘payback model’ is based on obtaining more metals.
AuAg Essential Metals should be a favourite fund among professional investors who want commodity exposure but do not want to invest in oil/coal and livestock/food. Moreover, the timing is great given that the companies are still undervalued in a sector that looks like it could get really hot once everyone realises what world leaders are really after.