Canadian Mining ETFs Take the Lead as Metal Markets Surge
Canadian mining ETFs are surging in 2025 as record gold, silver and copper prices reignite interest across producers, developers and junior miners.
Canadian mining equities have emerged as some of the strongest performers of 2025, benefiting from a powerful combination of record metal prices, improving fundamentals across gold, silver and copper, and a long-awaited rotation back into miners. After years of underperformance versus bullion, both senior producers and junior developers are now attracting sustained capital, a shift increasingly visible through actively managed and sector-focused ETFs.
Gold and silver prices near historic highs, alongside structurally tight copper markets, have materially altered the earnings outlook for mining companies. Higher margins, stronger balance sheets and renewed M&A optionality are reinforcing the investment case, particularly for diversified portfolios that blend established producers with high-beta development and exploration names.
Active exposure to the mining cycle: RGPM in focus
A clear illustration of this trend is the RBC Global Precious Metals Fund (RGPM), a Cboe-listed active ETF that has delivered exceptional performance in 2025. The fund is up roughly 136% year to date, reflecting both the magnitude of the metals rally and the portfolio’s positioning across the mining value chain.
RGPM’s holdings reveal a deliberate balance between scale, cash flow and upside optionality. Core positions include large, globally diversified producers such as Agnico Eagle Mines, Kinross Gold, Barrick Mining and Newmont, offering leverage to gold prices with relatively lower operational risk. These are complemented by royalty and streaming exposure through names like Wheaton Precious Metals and Franco-Nevada, which benefit from rising prices while limiting direct cost inflation.
Beyond the majors, RGPM allocates meaningfully to mid-tier and emerging producers such as Alamos Gold, K92 Mining, Endeavour Mining and Lundin Gold, alongside a long tail of junior gold and silver developers and explorers. This structure allows the fund to participate not only in higher spot prices, but also in valuation reratings and project-specific catalysts that typically emerge late in a metals cycle.
Juniors re-enter the conversation
One of the defining features of the current phase has been renewed interest in smaller mining equities. After years of capital scarcity, higher metal prices are once again making marginal projects economically viable, reopening financing channels and driving sharp repricing across select junior names.
Active ETFs such as RGPM are structurally better positioned to capture this rotation than passive benchmarks, which tend to be dominated by large-cap producers. By selectively allocating to early-stage gold, silver, and copper names, these strategies aim to harness the asymmetry that often characterises late-cycle mining rallies—while still anchoring portfolios with liquid, cash-generative holdings.
Broader Canadian mining ETF performance
The strength of the theme is not confined to a single fund. Across Canadian-listed mining and precious-metals ETFs, performance in 2025 has been robust, with precious-metal miner strategies collectively up well into triple-digit territory at the top end. Weekly performance has also remained firm, reflecting continued inflows and resilient investor appetite even after the sharp gains already recorded this year.
Alongside RGPM, products such as the Ninepoint Gold and Precious Minerals Fund (GLDE) and the Dynamic Active Mining Opportunities ETF (DXMO) have also benefited from the re-rating of mining equities, albeit with different risk profiles and allocation frameworks. Together, they highlight growing investor demand for active exposure to metals and mining, rather than pure bullion-linked products alone.
Looking ahead: miners back in focus
Looking into 2026, the outlook for Canadian mining ETFs remains constructive, albeit with rising dispersion. Gold continues to enjoy a strong fundamental floor from central-bank demand and investor inflows, silver remains supported by structural deficits and industrial demand, and copper’s role in electrification underpins longer-term supply constraints.
For investors, mining-focused ETFs offer a differentiated way to express these views—combining price leverage, operational upside and selective exposure to exploration success. After a decade in the wilderness, Canadian miners appear firmly back on the radar.
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Please note this article is for information purposes only and does not in any way constitute investment advice. It is essential that you seek advice from a registered financial professional prior to making any investment decision.
