The manager of the Millennium BullionFund, Canada’s first and only RRSP-eligible, open-end bullion fund, says the fund has grown by 318% since the beginning of 2003.

Total assets of the fund, which are invested in equal portions of gold, silver and platinum bullion, were $15.9 million as of December 9, 2003, up from $3.8 million on January 1, 2003.

The fund has been approved to offer units in every province and territory since June 2003.

“Investors have been buying our mutual fund units because they are attracted to the safety and investment potential of gold, silver and platinum bullion,” says Nick Barisheff, president of Bullion Management Services Inc. and manager of the Fund.

He adds that another key attraction for investors is that the daily pricing of the fund’s units is directly based on the price of bullion, which is in contrast to closed-end funds.

Barisheff says the fund is well positioned to maintain its performance. “It’s obvious there is also significant worry that the recent stock market recovery is a liquidity bubble that won’t last and that the US Fed’s easy money policy along with record-high U.S. trade and government deficits will continue to undermine the U.S. dollar,” he says.

As the U.S. dollar has declined, the gold price in U.S. dollar terms has risen 15.5% since the beginning of the year.