ASA Gold and Precious Metals : 2021 Semi-Annual Report

Gold and Precious Metals Limited

Semi-Annual Report and Financial Statements

May 31, 2021

(Unaudited)

A Closed-End Fund

Specializing in Gold and Other

Precious Metals Investments

ASA Gold and Precious Metals Limited

Semi-Annual Report and Financial Statements

May 31, 2021

Table of Contents

Letter to Shareholders	2
Forward-looking statements	4
10-Year performance returns (Unaudited)	5
Certain investment policies and restrictions	6
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm	6
Schedule of investments (Unaudited)	7
Portfolio statistics (Unaudited)	10
Statement of assets and liabilities (Unaudited)	11
Statement of operations (Unaudited)	12
Statements of changes in net assets	13
Notes to financial statements (Unaudited)	14
Financial highlights	21
Certain tax information for U.S. shareholders	22
Dividend reinvestment and stock purchase plan	22
Privacy notice	23
Board consideration of Investment Advisory Agreement	23
Results of the proposals presented at the annual general meeting of shareholders	25
Form N-PX/proxy voting	25
Form N-PORT/portfolio holdings	25
Share repurchase	25

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Dear Shareholder,

During the six-month fiscal period ending May 31, 2021, the gold price increased 7.8%, helping gold mining equities achieve solid returns over the period. The fiscal year started off with a strong rally in gold prices and gold mining equities. U.S. 10-year real interest rates continued to decline as inflation expectations increased more than nominal yields. The U.S. dollar resumed its downtrend, continuing what we view as a new secular bear market that started in March 2020.

ASA Gold and Precious Metals Limited ("ASA" or the "Company") reported a net asset value ("NAV") of $28.31 per share on May 31, 2021, for a six-month total return of 17.8% versus a total return of 14.2% for the NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index.

The ASA share price closed at $24.31, a total return of 22.2% for the six-month period ending May 31, 2021. The discount at which ASA's shares traded in the market ended the first half of fiscal 2021 at 14.1%, a decrease from 17.2% at the beginning of the fiscal year. During this period, the discount averaged 14.6%, ranging between 11.6% and 18.1%. At the end of first half of the fiscal year, total net assets of ASA were $546 million, an increase of $82 million as compared to fiscal year-end 2020.

During the last six months, ASA distributed $0.01 per share to shareholders, the same amount as the last six months of fiscal 2020.

Portfolio Performance and Attribution

The move by the Fund into mid- and small- capitalization companies continues to be positive for portfolio performance. The primary driver of performance was our large allocation to small capitalization companies which had outsized returns. We continue to believe that the names we have invested in, not only may perform well in a positive gold market, but may have catalysts that will enhance performance and prove to have better leverage to the gold price than the larger capitalization stocks that the Fund historically invested in.

Broken down further, we continue to believe that the best value is in the smaller producers, exploration and development companies. They drove the majority of our performance over the first half of the fiscal year. The Fund has been investing with teams and in assets that we believe have the potential to be the next stage of growth for the mid and large cap companies, who have grossly underinvested in their future pipeline. In our view, these companies provide the most compelling reward-to-risk profile. Our equity investments are intended to be used to expand drill programs and build mines. Upside catalysts will likely continue throughout the year and generate interest from corporations and larger institutional investors.

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As the chart below shows, exploration dollars have been increasing significantly in the last two years, and the Fund has been investing alongside these explorers. Typically, it takes up to six months from an equity-raise for a company todeploy the capital and generate and compile the data for a comprehensive release. The Fund has had success with this type of investment over the last two years. We have equity investments that have yet to release data and future datareleases have the potential to be positive catalysts for appreciation.

As previously mentioned, lack of investment in exploration and development by the larger companies has created a scarcity of growth that, in our assessment, those companies will need to address. Exploration is the first stage in that process. Following successful exploration and development of new mines, it is our opinion that the next step is mergers and acquisitions. The chart below shows the lack of transactions since the last cycle. When you back out the large Barrick/Newmont JV in 2019, the paucity of transactions is even greater. The combination of improved operations, deleveraged balance sheets and increased free cash flows, positions most companies to improve their growth pipeline without taking on undue risk like in previous cycles. We believe that ASA is well positioned to benefit from any improvements in the deal pipeline.

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As such, we at Merk Investments believe investors in ASA are well positioned to participate in a positive gold environment. We are always available to discuss the market and any questions that you have.

Peter Maletis, Portfolio Manager	Axel Merk, Chief Investment Officer
Merk Investments LLC	Merk Investments LLC

Forward-Looking Statements

This shareholder letter includes forward-looking statements, which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements of the Company, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company's actual performance or results may differ from its beliefs, expectations, estimates, goals and projections, and consequently, investors should not rely on these forward- looking statements as predictions of future events. Forward-looking statements are not historical in nature and generally can be identified by words such as "believe," "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "should," "may," "will," "seek," or similar expressions or their negative forms, or by references to strategy, plans, goals or intentions. The absence of these words or references does not mean that the statements are not forward-looking. The Company's performance or results can fluctuate from month to month depending on a variety of factors, a number of which are beyond the Company's control and/or are difficult to predict, including without limitation: the Company's investment decisions, the performance of the securities in its investment portfolio, economic, political, market and financial factors, and the prices of gold, platinum and other precious minerals that may fluctuate substantially over short periods of time. The Company may or may not revise, correct or update the forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

The Company concentrates its investments in the gold and precious minerals sector. This sector may be more volatile than other industries and may be affected by movements in commodity prices triggered by international monetary and political developments. The Company is a non-diversified fund and, as such, may invest in fewer investments than that of a diversified portfolio. The Company may invest in smaller-sized companies that may be more volatile and less liquid than larger more established companies. Investments in foreign securities, especially those in the emerging markets, may involve increased risk as well as exposure to currency fluctuations. Shares of closed-end funds frequently trade at a discount to net asset value. All performance information reflects past performance and is presented on a total return basis. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Current performance may differ from the performance shown.

This shareholder letter does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any securities.

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