Copper market’s biggest whale fuels speculation of a major shift
The world’s single biggest buyer of copper, State Grid Corp. of China, has slowed its purchases of copper wire this year.
Sprott Asset Management LP, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sprott Inc. (NYSE, TSX: SII), announced on Thursday it has launched four exchange-traded funds (ETFs) focused on providing investors pure-play exposure to critical minerals essential to the generation, transmission and storage of cleaner energy.
The funds track indices Sprott has developed in partnership with Nasdaq, which will also list the ETFs on its exchange.
The four new funds are Sprott Energy Transition Materials ETF (Nasdaq: SETM), Sprott Lithium Miners ETF (Nasdaq: LITP), Sprott Junior Uranium Miners ETF (Nasdaq: URNJ) and Sprott Junior Copper Miners ETF (Nasdaq: COPJ).
SETM seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the total return performance of the Nasdaq Sprott Energy Transition Materials Index, which is designed to track the performance of a selection of global securities in the energy transition materials industry.
LITP aims to provide investment results that correspond generally to the total return performance of the Nasdaq Sprott Lithium Miners Index, which is designed to track the performance of a selection of global securities in the lithium industry, including lithium producers, developers and explorers.
The aim of URNJ is to provide investment results that correspond generally to the total return performance of the Nasdaq Sprott Junior Uranium Miners Index, which is designed to track the performance of mid-, small- and micro-cap companies in uranium mining-related businesses.
COPJ seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the total return performance of the Nasdaq Sprott Junior Copper Miners Index, which is designed to track the performance of mid-, small- and micro-cap companies in copper mining-related businesses.
These four funds join Sprott’s existing Sprott Uranium Miners ETF (NYSE Arca: URNM) and Sprott Physical Uranium Trust (TSX: U.U, U.UN) under its energy transition fund suite, for a total of six.
As nations around the world embrace mandates that require sharp reductions in their carbon emissions, these new energy transition ETFs would enable investors to gain convenient, liquid exposure to the miners of critical minerals that may benefit from quickly increasing demand, limited supplies and the challenges of bringing minerals to market, Sprott said in a statement.
“2022 was a global wake-up call regarding the importance of energy transition and security. Certain critical minerals serve as raw materials that are required to meet the growing need for low-carbon energy, increased electrification and the transition to electric vehicles,” Sprott Asset Management CEO John Ciampaglia said.
“Due to years of underinvestment, demand for many energy transition materials now outstrips supply. We believe mining companies focused on energy transition minerals are well positioned to benefit from the significant investments that will be required over the coming decades,” he added.
