Profile: expat gold investor Patrick Pittaway

The specialist mining map in Patrick Pittaway’s office gives a fascinating snapshot insight into a world of natural resources. "Geology knows no borders," says the 37-year-old fund manager, which explains why many of the usual political features are absent from the map.

Beneath the map sit a number of carefully-arranged minerals, some of which he has owned since his university days as a geology student.

The rocks – such as copper oxide from central Africa and Mongolian coal – are useful props to impress clients with his knowledge of what lies beneath the earth’s surface.

Pittaway was born in Zimbabwe and educated in the UK. After moving to Switzerland in 2002, he worked in finance before setting up URAM in Geneva in 2007 with five Genevan shareholders.

He and business partner Dominique Casaï manage a clutch of investment funds focused on precious metals and mining stocks.

"We have funds covering the whole commodity spectrum," says Pittaway, talking to Swisster over lunch at a local restaurant.

While last year’s meteoric rise in gold prices appears to have levelled off – according to the main dollar-based market indices – Pittaway strongly advocates buying into the URAM Gold Allocator fund, which is ranked number one in its category buy market information providers, Bloomberg and Citywire.

"The gold price is still in a very strong bull market uptrend in US dollars . . . it’s a hedge against the economic malaise in the west," says Pittaway.

Growth in emerging markets – such as China, India and Brazil – makes a compelling investment case, and jewellery demand will also kick in during 2010. An estimated 2 million people will marry during the Indian wedding season, according to a recent URAM report to investors.

The World Gold Council backs up the thesis that demand will continue to accelerate even while prices rocketed in 2009.

This year URAM has carved a new niche in the investment world. It is the first company to set up a product – the UR Beyond Carbon Metals Fund – solely devoted to metals needed for a lower-carbon power generation and transport.

The fund invests in uranium, which is used to generate nuclear power – not the greenest of energies say many environmentalists – but, nonetheless, a low-carbon electricity source.

And it holds the metal lithium – an essential component of electric car batteries.

"Clients brought the idea to us," says Pittaway, and the concept looked all the more convincing after the automotive industry began buying into commodities needed to transform vehicle manufacturing.

Earlier this year a Toyota-affiliate entered into a joint venture with an Australian mining company to dig for lithium in Argentina, extracting the raw material for lithium-ion car batteries.

"We’ve had a lot of interest in the fund," says Pittaway.

Developing URAM was not a trouble-free process for Pittaway and his colleague. The company held off hiring last year, but it will phase in a handful of new recruits in marketing and investment analysis during the next 18 months.

"It’s easier now. People are calling us a lot more," Pittaway explains.

The funds themselves are registered in Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands, but the day-to-day work is done in Switzerland.

"I find doing business in Geneva remarkably good. Plus it helps that we’re close to Zurich," he points out.

The URAM team also takes at least one field trip a year to inspect mines and the companies which run them. After taking on new staff, Pittaway hopes he will have more time to don a hard hat to observe projects in the far-flung corners of the world which URAM’s investors are funding.

But Switzerland will remain home for the Anglo-African money manager, who enjoys sailing his six metre sail boat around Lake Geneva and skiing with his young family.

If the gold price continues to rise, life will remain very comfortable for the portfolio managers, Pittaway and Casaï, who take a 1.5 percent average management fee from the fund and look forward to a 15 percent performance bonus should the funds outperform benchmarks such as the FT gold mines index.

The public can buy into URAM's Luxembourg-registered gold fund. The minimum investment – one share – costs around 120  francs.

But punters should know that gold is only one element of a balanced investment portfolio, says Pittaway.