Mr. Foster joined VanEck in 1996 as a precious metals mining analyst, and has been Portfolio Manager for VanEck’s Gold Strategy since 1998. He also serves as Strategist for VanEck’s Global Hard Assets Strategy. He covers gold mining equities ranging from small-cap exploration to senior producers. Mr. Foster also forecasts and monitors gold-related market conditions and models the asset bases of mining companies. Mr. Foster is one of the most experienced investment managers in the field of gold and gold stocks portfolio management, with approximately 35 years of experience in the industry as a geologist and investment manager. Mr. Foster has over 14 years of dedicated experience in geology and mining. From 1992 to 1996, he was a Senior Geologist at Pinson Mining Company, where he managed an on-site geology department and conceived and implemented a comprehensive exploration program on a 35 square-mile land position. His primary responsibility was to find new gold reserves that could extend the life of the mine. In addition, Mr. Foster established an AutoCAD-based geologic information system that incorporated geological, geo-chemical, geophysical, topographic, and drilling data compiled over a 20-year period. From 1988 to 1992, as a Mine Exploration Geologist, Mr. Foster planned and supervised up to 30,000 feet of exploration drilling per year. Prior to 1988, Mr. Foster was an Exploration Geologist with Lacana Gold Inc. in Reno, Nevada. Mr. Foster started his career in 1981 as a summer intern as a geologist for Atlas Mining, an underground uranium mine in Green River, Utah. Mr. Foster received an MS in Geology from the Mackey School of Mines and an MBA from the University of Nevada-Reno. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BS in Geology from Tennessee Technological University. Mr. Foster has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, The Wall Street Reporter, Reuters TV, CNBC, Fox News and Bloomberg TV. He has published articles in mining journals, including Mining Engineering, Society of Economic Geology, and Geological Society of Nevada.

Ms. Casanova joined VanEck in 2011. She serves as Deputy Portfolio Manager and Senior Analyst for VanEck’s Global Gold Strategy, specializing in gold and precious metals. She further serves as an Investment Team member for VanEck’s Global Hard Assets Strategy. Prior to joining VanEck, Ms. Casanova worked at McNicoll Lewis & Vlak as Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst in charge of establishing its metals and mining research department. From 2007 to 2010, Ms. Casanova was an equity research analyst at Barnard Jacobs Mellet USA, specializing in gold mining stocks, and expanding its coverage universe and product offering of metals and mining research practices in the Americas. From 2005 to 2007, Ms. Casanova worked as an associate analyst for BMO Capital Markets’ gold research team, covering small-, intermediate- and large-cap gold mining companies. Prior to working as an analyst, Ms. Casanova was a production technologist, offshore well-site supervisor, and petroleum engineer for Shell Exploration and Production in Venezuela. Ms. Casanova received an MS in Mechanical Engineering and a BS (Magna Cum Laude) in Mechanical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University. She has been quoted in Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, USA Today, Investor’s Business Daily, Reuters, theStreet.com, and has appeared on CNBC.