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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 209 / Tuesday, November 2, 2021 / Notices Mellon will also serve as the Trusts cash custodian Cash Custodian pursuant to the terms of the agreement between the Trust and the Cash Custodian. In its capacity as cash custodian, the Cash Custodian will maintain a custodial account that holds cash for the benefit of the Trust for the purpose of payment of the Sponsors fee in cash or the other expenses of the Trust.

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Operation of the Trust The investment objective of the Trust will be for the Shares to reflect the performance of the price of gold, less the Trusts expenses and liabilities. The Trust will issue Shares which represent units of fractional undivided beneficial interest in and ownership of the Trust.
The Trusts assets are expected to consist primarily of fully allocated unencumbered physical gold bullion held by the Mint on behalf of the Trust that meets certain environmental, social and governance ESG standards and criteria established by the Sponsor ESG Approved Gold, and will also include unallocated unencumbered physical gold bullion held by the Mint on behalf of the Trust and cash.
The Trust does not intend to hold a certain amount of gold in unallocated form to satisfy redemption requests or to pay expenses, but the Trust expects to hold some amount of unallocated gold at any given point in time. The Trusts holdings of unallocated gold may be a significant percentage of the Trusts assets if, for example, the Trust has received more requests for creations than redemptions or the Trusts unallocated gold holdings are not sufficient to meet certain minimum size requirements to convert unallocated gold to ESG Approved Gold at the Mint.
The Trust may need to instruct the Mint to convert ESG Approved Gold into unallocated gold if insufficient unallocated gold is available to be sold owned by the Trust pursuant to gold storage and custody agreements. The Gold Custodian will hold gold for the account of the Trust on an allocated basis the Trust Allocated Account, except where gold is temporarily held in an unallocated account the Trust Unallocated Account. The Sponsor may cause the Trust to engage unaffiliated gold brokers to transfer unallocated gold between the Trusts custody accounts maintained for the benefit of the Trust by the Gold Custodian in Ottawa, Canada and London, United Kingdom where it can be delivered to a redeeming Authorized Participant as defined below if additional unallocated gold is needed by the Trust to satisfy the redeeming Authorized Participants redemption request. The Gold Custodian is responsible for allocating specific bars of gold to the Trust Allocated Account. The Gold Custodian will provide the Trust with regular reports detailing the gold transfers in and out of the Trust Unallocated Account with the Gold Custodian and identifying the gold bars held in the Trust Allocated Account.

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to pay expenses or to meet redemption requests. The Mint will exchange ESG
Approved Gold for an equal amount of unallocated gold upon the receipt of proper instructions from the Sponsor.
The ESG standards and criteria used by the Sponsor the ESG Criteria are designed to provide investors with an enhanced level of ESG scrutiny along with disclosure of the provenance of the metal sourced, and include an evaluation of mining companies and mines.12 Mining companies and mines that meet the ESG Criteria ESG
Approved Mining Companies and ESG Approved Mines, respectively must also comply with the Mint Responsible Sourcing Requirements. An overview of the Sponsors application of the ESG Criteria to mining companies and mines that can provide the material for ESG Approved Gold is provided below.13
The application of the ESG Criteria involves multiple levels of analysis.
While the Sponsors evaluation of mines and mining companies will include the objective factors discussed below, the Sponsor will also evaluate company reports and, where possible, interview key personnel to assess whether such a mining company or mine meets the ESG
Criteria, which will require the subjective judgment of the Sponsor. The selection of these factors and how they are applied will be based, at least to some degree, on the judgment of the Sponsor and may or may not be consistent with current or future standards used by others in the industry. The ESG Criteria is subject to change by the Sponsor in its sole discretion.
The ESG Criteria are in addition to those used in the London Bullion Market Associations LBMA
Responsible Sourcing Program, as detailed in the LBMAs Responsible Gold Guidance, and are designed to provide investors with an enhanced level of ESG scrutiny along with disclosure of the provenance of the metal sourced. The Mint currently requires that its refining customers, including mines, meet the requirements 12 The ESG Criteria are anticipated to evolve over time at the discretion of the Sponsor. Also, one or more criterion may not be relevant with respect to all sources of gold that are eligible for investment.
Factors that could be considered by the Sponsor in modifying the ESG Criteria include changes to current gold mining techniques or standards, evolving legal standards, the introduction of new standards or evaluation frameworks within the mining industry or the elimination of existing standards or frameworks that in the view of the Sponsor are relevant to the ESG assessment of a mining company or mine site.
13 The ESG Criteria and the Sponsors application of the ESG Criteria are disclosed in the Registration Statement.

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outlined in the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from ConflictAffected and High-Risk Areas, the LBMA Responsible Gold Guidance, the Mints Responsible Metals Program and the Mints Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Program in compliance with the Proceeds of Crime Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act Canada collectively, the Mint Responsible Sourcing Requirements. Only mines which the Mint determines meet and maintain the Mint Responsible Sourcing Requirements and with whom the Mint has a contractual refining relationship each a Mint Approved Mine, collectively the Mint Approved Mines will be eligible for consideration by the Sponsor as a provider of ESG Approved Gold. The Mint will cease refining gold from any Mint Approved Mine that no longer meets the Mint Responsible Sourcing Requirements, as determined by the Mint from time to time.
The ESG factors used for the ESG
assessment of mines and miners generally will encompass the following factors:
Environmental Factors Energy use and greenhouse gas emissions Tailings and waste management Conservation and water management Mine site remediation Social Factors Worker safety and health Community relations Natural resource benefit to local communities Child and forced labor Governance Factors Corporate governance Workplace and gender diversity Fair executive compensation Corporate transparency and disclosures Mining companies that qualify for the LBMAs Responsible Sourcing Program and are Mint Approved Mines will then be subject to two levels of ESG
screening by the Sponsor: At the overall company level and at the individual mine site level.
First, the Sponsor will evaluate a mining company using ESG factors determined by the Sponsor described above. This evaluation will use a number of tools, which include ratings from third-party research providers, such as Sustainalytics ESG Risk Ratings, along with sell-side equity research reports. With respect to corporate governance, the Sponsor will evaluate recommendations from proxy voting
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