Sprott Gold Equity Investor SGDLX

Sprott announced in a filing dated May 16, 2024, that co-lead manager Douglas Groh retired effective May 15, 2024. The change doesn’t affect Sprott Gold Equity’s Above Average People or Average Process ratings. The announcement was abrupt, but the team is well-equipped to handle Groh’s departure. Groh spent more than 35 years in the industry and joined John Hathaway as comanager in January 2012. Since then, the duo worked closely together and built a deep familiarity of the niche gold-equity universe, amassing a strong track record under their watch. Despite the loss of Groh, the team’s depth should make for a smooth transition. Following Sprott’s acquisition of this strategy from Tocqueville in January 2020, the firm added Maria Smirnova and Shree Kargutkar as comanagers, both of whom have ample experience investing in precious-metals stocks. Additionally, the firm promoted analyst Justin Tolman to comanager in March 2024 to shore up the lineup. Tolman plans on taking over Groh’s coverage and is well-equipped to do so; he spent more than 20 yeas as a geologist for several mining companies, which is a unique skill-set that should help when assessing mining companies. Hathaway will retain lead manager duties following Groh’s departure, but key-person risk remains. Hathaway has more than 50 years of industry experience and has been at the helm of the strategy since its June 1998 inception. Although he currently has no plans to retire, the situation bears watching. Still, this team is better than most others in the equity precious-metals Morningstar Category, and investors should continue to benefit from the team’s depth.