Van Eck, the hard asset management firm, will bring to market an ETF tracking the shares of junior precious metal miners. IndexUniverse reports that the US’s sixth largest ETF provider by assets under management will offer a passively indexed fund based on its own custom index.

Junior miners are small and medium cap mining companies that are typically much more speculative than their more established peers. Often thier assets consist of little more than mining rights of unknown value, but their potential upside can be huge.