Well the fund invests in the equities so I could argue that it is a zero-sum situation. If there aren't going to be any new investors coming in to the sector then I might be more inclined to see it your way. But I don't think that is why Van Eck is launching this particular fund at this particular time. I think they know what's coming and are positioning themselves to take advantage of it. I think they know that more institutional money will be moving in to the sector.

Just look at recent developments...Paulsen, Einhorn, Tudor Jones, the Central Bank of India, Sri Lanka...there is big money flowing to gold. A lot of that money is going into bullion at the moment but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where the leverage is going to be.

Vehicles like this are an inevitable development in the life of this bull. Vehicles like this are necessary to accomodate institutional investors that cannot buy individual mining stocks and retail investors who understand where the leverage is but are unwilling or do not feel capable of doing the due diligence on a case by case basis. We are used to having this sector to ourselves but let's face it, we are going to have lots of company in the not too distant future so we might as well start getting used to the idea now.