Van Eck Global, the New York-based fund firm that’s known for its commodities expertise, today is rolling out its Market Vectors Rare Earth/Strategic Metals ETF (NYSEArca: REMX) that invests n companies engaged in the production, refining and recycling of rare earth and strategic metals and minerals.

The new fund is the latest foray by a U.S. ETF sponsor into minor metals, an area of increased investor interest amid surging global demand for materials like gallium, which is used to make a host of specialized high-tech equipment, including cell phone chips and solar voltaic cells. Such metals are often byproducts of other mining operations. They are not only difficult to extract, but also have specialized uses in many advanced technologies , the filing said.
 

In July, New York-based ETF firm Global X launched the market’s first lithium-focused ETF. Lithium is key to the renewable energy industry. The first minor metals ETF, the REE Fund, received approval in May to trade exclusively in Switzerland.

REMX has an expense ratio of 0.57 percent, the company said it in most recent regulatory filing related to the fund. It now track a rules-based, modified capitalization-weighted, float-adjusted index published by 4-Asset Management GmbH and calculated by Structured Solutions AG. consists of 24 companies with an average market capitalization of $1.2 billion, according to the filing. The index is rebalanced quarterly.

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