OPPENHEIMER GOLD & SPECIAL MINERALS FUND
Supplement dated May 1, 1997 to the
Prospectus dated October 18, 1996
The Prospectus is changed as follows:
1. This Prospectus Supplement replaces Prospectus Supplements dated October
18, 1996 and January 1, 1997.
2. The first footnote under the "Shareholder Transaction Expenses" table on
page 3 is replaced with the following:
(1) If you invest $1 million or more ($500,000 or more for purchases by
"Retirement Plans", as defined in "Class A Contingent Deferred Sales
Charge" on page 27) in Class A shares, you may have to pay a sales charge
of up to 1% if you sell your shares within 12 calendar months (18 months
for shares purchased prior to May 1, 1997) from the end of the calendar
month during which you purchased those shares.
See "How to Buy Shares - Buying Class A Shares", below.
3. The first and second sentences in "Class A Shares" under "Classes of
Shares" on page 23 is replaced by the following:
If you buy Class A shares, you may pay an initial sales charge on
investments up to $1 million (up to $500,000 for purchases by "Retirement
Plans," as defined in "Class A Contingent Deferred Sales Charge" on page
27). If you purchase Class A shares as part of an investment of at least
$1 million ($500,000 for Retirement Plans) in shares of one or more
Oppenheimer funds, you will not pay an initial sales charge, but if you
sell any of those shares within 12 months of buying them (18 months if
the shares were purchased prior to May 1, 1997), you may pay a contingent
deferred sales charge.
4. The following sentence is added to the end of "Which Class of Shares
Should You Choose? - How Does It Affect Payments To My Broker?" on page 25:
The Distributor may pay additional periodic compensation from its own
resources to securities dealers or financial institutions based upon the
value of shares of the Fund owned by the dealer or financial institution
for its own account or for its customers.
5. The sub-paragraphs of the section "Buying Class A Shares - Class A
Contingent Deferred Sales Charge"on page 27 are deleted and replaced by the
following:
o Purchases aggregating $1 million or more.
o Purchases by a retirement plan qualified under sections 401(a)
or 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code, by a non-qualified deferred
compensation plan (not including Section 457 plans), employee benefit
plan, group retirement plan (see "How to Buy Shares - Retirement Plans"
in the Statement of Additional Information for further details), an
employee's 403(b)(7) custodial plan account, SEP IRA, SARSEP, or SIMPLE
plan (all of these plans are collectively referred to as "Retirement
Plans"); that: (1) buys shares costing $500,000 or more or (2) has, at
the time of purchase, 100 or more eligible participants, or (3) certifies
that it projects to have annual plan purchases of $200,000 or more.
o Purchases by an OppenheimerFunds Rollover IRA if the purchases
are made (1) through a broker, dealer, bank or registered investment
adviser that has made special arrangements with the Distributor for these
purchases, or (2) by a direct rollover of a distribution from a qualified
retirement plan if the administrator of that plan has made special
arrangements with the Distributor for those purchases.
o Purchases by a retirement plan qualified under section 401(a) if
the retirement plan has total plan assets of $500,000 or more.
6. The second paragraph of "Buying Class A Shares - Class A Contingent Deferred
Sales Charge" on page 27 is replaced by the following:
The Distributor pays dealers of record commission on those purchases in
an amount equal to (i) 1.0% for non-Retirement Plan accounts, and (ii)
for Retirement Plan accounts, 1.0% of the first $2.5 million, plus 0.50%
of the next $2.5 million, plus 0.25% of purchases over $5 million,
calculated on a calendar year basis. That commission will be paid only on
those purchases that were not previously subject to a front-end sales
charge and dealer commission. No sales commission will be paid to the
dealer, broker or financial institution on sales of Class A shares
purchased with the redemption proceeds of shares of a mutual fund offered
as an investment option in a Retirement Plan in which Oppenheimer funds
are also offered as investment options under a special arrangement with
the Distributor
(continued)
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if the purchase occurs more than 30 days after the addition of the
Oppenheimer funds as an investment option to the Retirement Plan.
7. In the third paragraph of "Buying Class A Shares - Class A Contingent
Deferred Sales Charge" on page 27, the first sentence is replaced by the
following:
If you redeem any of those shares purchased prior to May 1, 1997, within
18 months of the end of the calendar month of their purchase, a
contingent deferred sales charge (called the "Class A contingent deferred
sales charge") may be deducted from the redemption proceeds. A Class A
contingent deferred sales charge may be deducted from the redemption
proceeds of any of those shares purchased on or after May 1, 1997 that
are redeemed within 12 months of the end of the calendar month of their
purchase.
8. Effective January 1, 1997, the second sentence in the section captioned
"Special Arrangements with Dealers" on page 28 is deleted.
9. The third sentence of the second paragraph of "Reduced Sales Charges for
Class A Share Purchases - Right of Accumulation" on page 28 is replaced by the
following:
The Distributor will add the value, at current offering price, of the
shares you previously purchased and currently own to the value of current
purchases to determine the sales charge rate that applies.
10. The seventh subparagraph under the section captioned "Waivers of Class A
Sales Charges - Waivers of Initial and Contingent Deferred Sales Charges for
Certain Purchasers" on page 29 is deleted and replaced with the following
subparagraph:
o (1) investment advisors and financial planners who charge an
advisory, consulting or other fee for their services and buy shares for
their own accounts or the accounts of their clients, (2) Retirement Plans
and deferred compensation plans and trusts used to fund those Plans
(including, for example, plans qualified or created under sections
401(a), 403(b) or 457 of the Internal Revenue Code), and "rabbi trusts"
that buy shares for their own accounts, in each case if those purchases
are made through a broker or agent or other financial intermediary that
has made special arrangements with the Distributor for those purchases;
and (3) clients of such investment advisors or financial planners who buy
shares for their own accounts may
(continued)
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also purchase shares without sales charge but only if their accounts are
linked to a master account of their investment advisor or financial
planner on the books and records of the broker, agent or financial
intermediary with which the Distributor has made such special
arrangements (each of these investors may be charged a fee by the broker,
agent or financial intermediary for purchasing shares).
11. The section captioned "Waivers of Class A Sales Charges - Waivers of the
Class A Contingent Deferred Sales Charge for Certain Redemptions" on page 30 is
replaced by the following:
The Class A contingent deferred sales charge is also waived if
shares that would otherwise be subject to the contingent deferred sales
charge are redeemed in the following cases:
o to make Automatic Withdrawal Plan payments that are limited
annually to no more than 12% of the original account value;
o involuntary redemptions of shares by operation of law or
involuntary redemptions of small accounts (see "Shareholder Account Rules
and Policies," below);
o if, at the time of purchase of shares (prior to May 1, 1997) the
dealer agreed in writing to accept the dealer's portion of the sales
commission in installments of 1/18th of the commission per month (and no
further commission will be payable if the shares are redeemed within 18
months of purchase);
o if, at the time of purchase of shares (on or after May 1, 1997)
the dealer agrees in writing to accept the dealer's portion of the sales
commission in installments of 1/12th of the commission per month (and no
further commission will be payable if the shares are redeemed within 12
months of purchase);
o for distributions from a TRAC-2000 401(k) plan sponsored by the
Distributor due to the termination of the TRAC-2000 program.
o for distributions from Retirement Plans, deferred compensation
plans or other employee benefit plans for any of the following purposes:
(1) following the death or disability (as defined in the Internal Revenue
Code) of the
(continued)
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participant or beneficiary (the death or disability must occur after the
participant's account was established); (2) to return excess
contributions; (3) to return contributions made due to a mistake of fact;
(4) hardship withdrawals, as defined in the plan; (5) under a Qualified
Domestic Relations Order, as defined in the Internal Revenue Code; (6) to
meet the minimum distribution requirements of the Internal Revenue Code;
(7) to establish "substantially equal periodic(1) following the death or
disability (as defined in the Internal Revenue Code) of the participant
or beneficiary (the death or disability must occur after the
participant's account was established); (2) to return excess
contributions; (3) to return contributions made due to a mistake of fact;
(4) hardship withdrawals, as defined in the plan; (5) under a Qualified
Domestic Relations Order, as defined in the Internal Revenue Code; (6) to
meet the minimum distribution requirements of the Internal Revenue Code;
(7) to establish "substantially equal periodic payments" as described in
Section 72(t) of the Internal Revenue Code; (8) for retirement
distributions or loans to participants or beneficiaries; (9) separation
from service; (10) participant-directed redemptions to purchase shares of
a mutual fund (other than a fund managed by the Manager or its
subsidiary) offered as an investment option in a Retirement Plan in which
Oppenheimer funds are also offered as investment options under a special
arrangement with the Distributor; or (11) plan termination or "in-service
distributions", if the redemption proceeds are rolled over directly to an
OppenheimerFunds IRA.
o for distributions from Retirement Plans having 500 or more
eligible participants, except distributions due to termination of all of
the Oppenheimer funds as an investment option under the Plan; and
o for distributions from 401(k) plans sponsored by broker-dealers
that have entered into a special agreement with the Distributor allowing
this waiver.
12. The following sentence is added to the end of the fifth paragraph in
"Distribution and Service Plans for Class B and Class C Shares" on page 34:
If a dealer has a special agreement with the Distributor, the Distributor
will pay the Class B and Class C service fees and the asset-based sales
charges to the dealer quarterly in lieu of paying the sales commissions
and service fees advance at the time of purchase.
(continued)
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13. The introductory phrase in the sixth sub-paragraph of "Waivers for
Redemptions of Shares in Certain Cases" in "Waivers of Class B and Class C Sales
Charges" on page 35 is replaced with the following and a new sub-section (6) is
added as follows:
o distributions from OppenheimerFunds prototype 401(k) plans and from
certain Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company prototype 401(k) plans . . .
(6) for loans to participants or beneficiaries.
14. The following sub-paragraph is added at the end of "Waivers for Redemptions
of Shares in Certain Cases" in "Waivers of Class B and Class C Sales Charges" on
page 35:
o Distributions from 401(k) plans sponsored by broker-dealers that
have entered into a special agreement with the Distributor allowing this
waiver.
15. The section captioned "Special Investor Services" is revised by adding the
following after the sub-section captioned "PhoneLink" on page 36:
Shareholder Transactions by Fax. Beginning May 30, 1997, requests for
certain account transactions may be sent to the Transfer Agent by fax
(telecopier). Please call 1-800-525-7048 for information about which
transactions are included. Transaction requests submitted by fax are
subject to the same rules and restrictions as written and telephone
requests described in this Prospectus.
May 1, 1997 PS0410.008
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