The inception date of Class A shares was 1-20-98, Class B shares was 1-30-78, and Class C shares was 1-29-98. Historical performance shown for Class A prior to its inception is based on the performance of Class B, the original class offered, and has not been adjusted to reflect the lower expenses applicable to Class A. If these returns had been adjusted, returns would be higher. Historical performance shown for Class C prior to its inception is based on the performance of Class B, the original class offered. Classes B and C have the same expenses. Historical performance shown for all classes of the fund prior to 7-19-10 is based on the performance of the fund's predecessor, the Evergreen Precious Metals Fund.

For each fund with at least a three-year history, Morningstar calculates a Morningstar Rating™ based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a fund's monthly performance (including the effects of sales charges, loads, and redemption fees), placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of funds in each category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. (Each share class is counted as a fraction of one fund within this scale and rated separately, which may cause slight variations in the distribution percentages.) Past performance is no guarantee of future results.