Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK WORLD MINING TRUST plc
All information is at 31 December 2016 and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
		One			Three				One	Three		Five
		Month			Months				Year	Years		Years
Net asset value		0.0%			7.1%				89.8%	-9.7%		-35.3%
Share price		2.8%			11.3%				100.6%	-11.9%		-30.3%
Euromoney Global Mining Index		0.3%			6.4%				94.0%	6.6%		-21.0%
(Total return)
Sources: BlackRock, Euromoney Global Mining Index, Datastream
At month end
Net asset value including income*:								377.77p
Net asset value capital only:								368.78p
*Includes net revenue of 8.99p
Share price:								336.50p
Discount to NAV**:								10.9%
Total assets:								£751.6m
Net yield***:								5.3%
Net gearing:								12.4%
Ordinary shares in issue:								176,455,242
Ordinary shares held in treasury:								16,556,600
Ongoing charges****:								1.2%
** Discount to NAV including income. *** Based on an interim dividend of 4.00p per share in respect of the year ended 31 December 2016 and a final dividend of 14.00p per share in respect of the year ended 31 December 2015. **** Calculated as a percentage of average net assets and using expenses, excluding finance costs for the year ended 31 December 2015.
Sector	% Total					Country Analysis					% Total
	Assets										Assets
Diversified	47.8					Global					61.7
Gold	18.9					Latin America					10.9
Copper	18.5					Australasia					7.4
Silver & Diamonds	10.0					Other Africa					6.6
Industrial Minerals	3.7					Canada					6.4
Zinc	0.7					Emerging Europe					4.6
Iron ore	0.1					South Africa					1.8
Net current assets	0.3					Tanzania					0.3
	-----					Net current assets					0.3
	100.0										-----
	=====										100.0
											=====
Ten Largest Investments
Company				% Total Assets
Rio Tinto				10.1
First Quantum Minerals				9.5
BHP Billiton				8.2
Glencore				7.4
Vale				5.3
Norilsk Nickel				4.5
Lundin Mining				4.5
Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde				3.2
Newmont Mining				2.8
Newcrest Mining				2.8

Commenting on the markets, Evy Hambro and Olivia Markham, representing the Investment Manager noted:

Performance

Data from China was largely positive during the month with November’s official industrial production rising 6.2% year-on-year, above the 6.1% that markets had expected. Retail sales reported a 10.8% year-on-year gain, ahead of the 10.2% increase anticipated, whilst fixed-asset investment was in-line with market hopes, rising 8.3%. One dark spot amongst the data was property sales growth; at 7.9% year-on-year in November, it hit its lowest point since December 2015.

Despite this supportive economic data, the base metals came under pressure with nickel, copper and zinc declining by 11.0%, 5.0% and 4.9% respectively. This appeared to be driven by continued US dollar strength as the 10-year US Treasury yield extended its climb higher, fuelled by Trump’s pledged stimulus measures.

Elsewhere, gold bullion declined by 1.4%, finishing the month at a price of $1,157/oz. Whilst moves in the underlying gold price continued to be weak, gold equities recovered some of the losses they experienced in November. Within the bulk commodities, coking coal was not immune to the price sell-off as it finished the month 28.9% lower (the coking coal price remains 146.2% higher than it started the year). Those companies more exposed to this came under pressure during the month.

Strategy and Outlook

After an extended down-cycle, January 2016 appears to have marked the bottom for the mining sector. The sector has performed strongly in 2016, primarily driven by commodity prices bouncing off the multi-year lows. Nonetheless, positioning surveys suggest investors remain cautious of the sector, given several years of severe underperformance, and the sector continues to be under-owned relative to history. Sentiment towards China has improved and the Chinese government’s stimulus package has fed through into improved economic data points such as PMI figures above 50 and robust property prices. At the same time, we have seen mining companies focus on cutting costs, reducing debt and improving balance sheets.

Looking ahead, we expect the mining sector’s performance to remain somewhat volatile in the near-term but we see the medium to long-term outlook as positive. The situation in China has improved and, for the first time since the global financial crisis, we are seeing signs of synchronous growth throughout the world’s developed economies. The impact of the mining sector slashing capital expenditure and underinvesting over the past few years is beginning to be felt by global production. Finally, whilst the sector performed strongly in 2016, it has only returned to July 2015 levels and with many of the miners trading at attractive free cash flow yields, valuations still at relative lows and commodity prices surprising to the upside, the risk of being underweight the sector remains.

All data points are in US dollar terms unless stated otherwise.

12 January 2017

ENDS

Latest information is available by typing www.brwmplc.co.uk on the internet, "BLRKINDEX" on Reuters, "BLRK" on Bloomberg or "8800" on Topic 3 (ICV terminal).  Neither the contents of the Manager’s website nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Manager’s website (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.