Mr. Christensen: ASA is one of the oldest precious metals funds in the industry. It was started in 1958, when Charlie Engelhard, in conjunction with Dillon, Read & Co. created the Company so that that Americans would have a good means to invest in the growing South African gold mining industry. This was during a dramatic growth phase of the Witwatersrand gold basin in South Africa that resulted in the development of much of South Africa's gold industry.
At that time ASA became a vehicle for US investors to invest in the growth of the South African gold mining industry. Over the years, ASA has evolved from a predominantly South African based portfolio to a globally diversified precious metals portfolio. Assets have grown during this period from the original $30 million investment, to just under $600 million at year-end 2009.
TWST: Tell us about the Precious Metals Fund and how you've been doing this past year.
Mr. Christensen: If we look at the Company's November 30, 2009 portfolio allocation, approximately 36% of net assets was invested in the large cap Canadian gold mining companies as well as a few of the smaller cap producers, and just under about 9.5% of net assets was allocated to Latin America precious metals companies. The Company maintained a very significant position as well at about 10.5% of the portfolio in Central African mining assets, largely Randgold Resources, and roughly 10% of the portfolio in Australian precious metals companies. A smaller portion of approximately 5% of the portfolio was invested was in US gold mining companies. For many years, ASA has held a somewhat larger portion of the portfolio in the platinum mining sector than many of the other funds in the industry. At the moment we are roughly 13% invested in the platinum group sector though at times we've been as high as 20% or as low as 5% of total net assets. We believe that the long-term fundamentals for the platinum sector remain very strong, and as global economic growth improves, it should push platinum and palladium demand higher.
Tickers included in this excerpt: ABX, AMS, AU, BVN, GG, GOLD, IMP, KGC, LMI
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