The accelerating adoption of electric vehicles and energy storage technologies has been attracting new investors into the mining industry as demand for battery materials spike.
The latest investment vehicle to capitalize on the trend was launched by New York-based Global X Funds this week connecting the likes of BHP and Rio Tinto to names most associated with the sector such as Tesla and Google.
The Autonomous & Electric Vehicles ETF (NASDAQ:DRIV) targets companies involved in the development of autonomous vehicle hardware and software, electric vehicles and EV batteries and raw materials. DRIV enjoyed a positive debut on Wednesday on a generally up day for markets rising around 0.8%.
Notably absent is world number one cobalt producer GlencoreConstituent companies are selected from 26 developed and emerging markets and must have at least $500 million in market capitalization. The ETF's top holding which according to Global X is chosen by artificial intelligence is Samsung followed by Intel, Microsoft and Toyota.
World number one mining company BHP comes in at number 10 just below Alphabet, Google's holding company. Anglo-Australian diversified miner Rio Tinto sits at no 14 just below Honda but ahead of automakers General Motors, Ford and Volkswagen. Tesla squeaks in at no 30 just ahead of Renault-Nissan, the world's number one seller of electric cars.
Other mining firms on the list include diversified giant Anglo American (no 33) and China Molybdenum (69) which owns the Tenke Fungurume copper-cobalt mine in the Congo, lithium miners Albemarle (46), FMC Corp (47) and Orocobre (74).
Developer Lithium Americas, which is in a joint venture with top lithium miner SQM (not included in DRIV) on a brine project in Argentina, at no 75 is the smallest investment in DRIV. Pilbara Minerals advancing a lithium-tantalum project in Western Australia sits at no 72.
Australia's diversified Mineral Resources, which earlier this month bought struggling Atlas Iron, is the 65th largest holding. Notably absent is world number one cobalt producer Glencore. The Swiss miner is also ahead of BHP and Rio in production of copper. The metal is projected to experience a big boost in demand from electric vehicles and particularly the associated charging infrastructure.