Strategy. The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the STOXX Global Lithium Miners and Producers Index (the Underlying Index ), which has been developed by STOXX Ltd. (the Index Provider or STOXX ). The Underlying Index is composed of U.S. and non-U.S. equity securities selected from the STOXX Global Lithium Universe Index (the Parent Index ). The Parent Index is composed of large-, mid- and small-capitalization stocks from developed and emerging markets. The Underlying Index captures the performance of equity securities of companies involved in lithium ore mining and/or lithium compounds manufacturing. To construct the Underlying Index, the Index Provider begins with common equity securities from the Parent Index and selects stocks that have a free-float market capitalization of … Show more… The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the STOXX Global Lithium Miners and Producers Index (the Underlying Index ), which has been developed by STOXX Ltd. (the Index Provider or STOXX ). The Underlying Index is composed of U.S. and non-U.S. equity securities selected from the STOXX Global Lithium Universe Index (the Parent Index ). The Parent Index is composed of large-, mid- and small-capitalization stocks from developed and emerging markets. The Underlying Index captures the performance of equity securities of companies involved in lithium ore mining and/or lithium compounds manufacturing. To construct the Underlying Index, the Index Provider begins with common equity securities from the Parent Index and selects stocks that have a free-float market capitalization of $100 million or greater, 3-month Average Daily Traded Volume ( ADTV ) equal to or exceeding $1 million and have FactSets Revere Business and Industry Classification System ( RBICS ) Focus Level 1 classification of Non-Energy Materials. The following RBICS sectors are defined for the selection process: Africa Lithium Ore Mining, Australia including Oceania Lithium Ore Mining, Diversified Lithium Ore Mining, Europe Lithium Ore Mining, Latin America Lithium Ore Mining, North America Lithium Ore Mining, Pan-Americas Lithium Ore Mining, Pan-Asia/Pacific Lithium Ore Mining and Rest of Asia/Pacific Lithium Ore Mining (the Lithium Ore Mining RBICS Focus Level 6 or Lithium Ore Mining RBICS sectors). From the remaining securities, the Index Provider selects Tier 1 securities according to the following steps: (i) companies categorized as one of the Lithium Ore Mining RBICS sectors (ii) companies categorized as Lithium Compounds Manufacturing under RBICS Focus Level 6 (or Lithium Compounds Manufacturing sub-category) and (iii) companies that derive at least 50% combined revenues from the Lithium Ore Mining RBICS sectors and Lithium Compounds Manufacturing sub-category. Following the Tier 1 selection, the Index Provider ranks and selects, as Tier 2 eligible securities, companies with at least 25% but less than 50% combined revenues derived from the Lithium Ore Mining RBICs sectors and Lithium Compounds Manufacturing sub-category from highest to lowest revenue exposure. All Tier 1 constituents are selected for the Underlying Index. However, if there are fewer than 50 Tier 1 constituents, the shortfall is filled with Tier 2 constituents, and the Underlying Index is capped at 50 constituents. The Index Providers methodology does not require a minimum number of Tier 1 securities. The Index Provider applies tier group weight limits. For Tier 1, the Index Provider applies at least a 25% weighting to the categories within steps (i) and (ii) above, as well as a maximum weight of 25% to Tier 2 securities. In addition, the Index Provider applies at least a 90% weighting to High Exposure Companies, which it defines as a combination of (i) Tier 1 constituents and (ii) companies that are in the top twenty percent in terms of market share. Market share is defined by STOXX as the percentile ranking of all companies in the Parent Index with combined revenue from the Lithium Ore Mining RBICS sectors and Lithium Compounds Manufacturing sub-category greater than or equal to 1 million USD. The component securities in the Underlying Index are weighted by float-adjusted market capitalization with individual securities capped at 8% and securities with weights greater than 4.5% will not in aggregate exceed 45% of the Underlying Index weight at rebalance. As of March 31, 2025, the Underlying Index had 29 securities and a significant portion of the index was represented by securities of companies in the basic materials industry or sector. The Underlying Index includes large-, mid- and small-capitalization companies and is likely to change over time. As of March 31, 2025, the Underlying Index was composed of securities of companies in the following countries: Australia, Chile, China, South Korea, and the U.S. The Underlying Index will be reviewed and reconstituted on an annual basis in September and rebalanced quarterly. BFA uses an indexing approach to try to achieve the Funds investment objective. The Fund does not try to beat the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued. Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Underlying Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies. BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund. Representative sampling is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively has an investment profile similar to that of an applicable underlying index. The securities selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market capitalization and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fund may or may not hold all of the securities in the Underlying Index. The Fund generally will invest at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of its Underlying Index and in investments that have economic characteristics that are substantially identical to the component securities of its Underlying Index ( i.e ., depositary receipts representing securities of the Underlying Index) and may invest up to 20% of its assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, cash and cash equivalents, including shares of money market funds advised by BFA or its affiliates, as well as in securities not included in the Underlying Index, but which BFA believes will help the Fund track the Underlying Index. Cash and cash equivalent investments associated with a derivative position will be treated as part of that position for the purposes of calculating the percentage of investments included in the Underlying Index. The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Underlying Index before fees and expenses of the Fund. The Fund may lend securities representing up to one-third of the value of the Fund's total assets (including the value of any collateral received). The Underlying Index and Parent Index are sponsored by STOXX, which is ? independent of the Fund and BFA. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index. Industry Concentration Policy. The Fund will concentrate its investments ( i.e. , hold 25% or more of its total assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that the Underlying Index is concentrated. For purposes of this limitation, securities of the U.S. government (including its agencies and instrumentalities) and repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities are not considered to be issued by members of any industry. Show less