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First ESG-focused Gold Mining ETF to launch to help investors access the gold mining sector in a responsible way

  • Europe’s first gold mining ETF with an ESG conscious mandate, AuAg ESG Gold Mining UCITS ETF (ticker: ESGO), to launch on London Stock Exchange in July 2021
  • The gold mining ETF tracks an index that ranks gold miners for ESG characteristics and excludes all but the 25 best-in-class ESG Risk companies in the sector
  • ESG screening for The Solactive AuAg ESG Gold Mining Index is provided by independent ESG experts, Sustainalytics
  • The ESGO ETF is classified as an Article 8 fund under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation

 

29th June 2021, London

The launch of Europe’s first ESG focused gold mining ETF, AuAg ESG Gold Mining UCITS ETF (ticker: ESGO) will give ESG focused investors a unique opportunity to participate in the gold mining sector. ESGO seeks to offer exposure to an equal-weighted basket of 25 ESG screened gold miners.

The AuAg ESG Gold Mining UCITS ETF (ticker: ESGO) will list on London Stock Exchange in July and will be passported for sale across Europe. The fund has been created in partnership with Sweden based AuAg Funds, a boutique brand with a strong focus on precious metals & green-tech elements, and has been developed on the HANetf white-label ETF platform.

The gold mining ETF tracks the Solactive AuAg Gold Mining Index, which ranks gold miners for ESG characteristics and excludes all but the 25 best-in-class ESG Risk companies in the sector. Independent ESG screening is provided by Sustainalytics, which has more than 25 years of experience in delivering ESG-related research. The ETF is classified as Article 8 under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).

The fund is equally weighted, with each holding having an allocation of 4%. The equal-weighted design helps to avoid concentration risks in larger gold miners. The possible underweighting of a few dominant mega-companies may also provide a beneficial return profile for the AuAg ESG Gold Mining UCITS ETF in a bull market for gold and gold miners. The fund’s total expense ratio is 0.60%. When you trade ETFs your capital is at risk.

Precious metals, with their unique properties, are indispensable in the transformation to a green world. Impact investing within the industry promotes environmentally friendly miners to be on the grid, build solar farms on-site, use fuel-cell mining trucks, and restore sites post-project, leaving reusable infrastructure (roads, water, electricity) for other projects. The mining sector’s role in greenhouse gas emission means ESG criteria need to be monitored, which is the focus of the Solactive AuAg ESG Gold Mining Index.

Eric Strand, CEO at AuAg Funds and founder of the AuAg ESG Gold Mining UCITS ETF said: “We’re delighted to launch the AuAg ESG Gold Mining UCITS ETF (ESGO) which allows investment in the companies that extract precious metals, with an active ESG approach. Mining is an industry that has seen vast improvements in all aspects of ESG, but standards vary across regions and companies. ESGO helps investors get exposure towards gold mining companies with the best ESG credentials and invest in the sector more responsibly.”

“Launching the AuAg ESG Gold Mining UCITS ETF (ticker: ESGO) is the next major step for AuAg Funds. We already have two daily-traded UCITS funds in AuAg Silver Bullet and AuAg Precious Green, both with a focus on precious metals and green-tech elements. Now we’ve designed an unique index and added our first Exchange Traded Fund to the family.”

Hector McNeil, co-Founder and co-CEO at HANetf, said: “ESG is very important for all types of investments and investors increasingly demand greater clarity and transparency from investment providers.”

“It is a major focus at HANetf which partly explains why we are delighted to be able to launch the AuAg ESG Gold Mining UCITS ETF – ESGO with AuAg Funds. There is also a strong investment story to tell when investing in ESG friendly gold miners which is a growth sector partly due to monetary inflation and the green transformation.”

“HANetf brought the Royal Mint Physical Gold ETC – RMAU to market in March 2020, and it had the unique feature of being the first Gold ETC to be launched with backing of 100% LBMA responsibly sourced bars. It has kept that standard since its launch and is uniquely independently audited. RMAU investors asked HANetf if we could do the same for gold miners, so we are very proud to do that with AuAg Funds with the launch of ESGO.”

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