Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK WORLD MINING TRUST plc (LEI - LNFFPBEUZJBOSR6PW155)
All information is at 31 January 2017 and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
		One			Three				One	Three		Five
		Month			Months				Year	Years		Years
Net asset value		12.7%			14.6%				130.9%	5.6%		-34.1%
Share price		13.5%			16.6%				141.0%	-0.9%		-29.3%
Euromoney Global Mining Index		12.5%			11.8%				129.8%	21.9%		-20.9%
(Total return)
Sources: BlackRock, Euromoney Global Mining Index, Datastream
At month end
Net asset value including income*:								431.83p
Net asset value capital only:								422.25p
*Includes net revenue of 9.58p
Share price:								382.00p
Discount to NAV**:								11.5%
Total assets:								£857.4m
Net yield***:								4.7%
Net gearing:								11.4%
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	48.8					Global					63.3
Copper	19.4					Latin America					11.8
Gold	17.8					Australasia					7.2
Silver & Diamonds	8.8					Other Africa					6.1
Industrial Minerals	3.5					Canada					4.9
Zinc	0.6					Emerging Europe					3.8
Iron ore	0.1					South Africa					1.6
Net current assets	1.0					Tanzania					0.3
	-----					Net current assets					1.0
	100.0										-----
	=====										100.0
											=====
Ten Largest Investments
Company				% Total Assets
Rio Tinto				11.0
First Quantum Minerals				9.1
BHP Billiton				8.0
Glencore				7.6
Vale				6.7
Lundin Mining				4.5
Norilsk Nickel				3.7
Newmont Mining				3.4
Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde				3.3
Teck Resources				2.7

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

Performance

After a difficult December, the mining sector returned to trending upwards in January, buoyed by mined commodity prices remaining at elevated levels and some recording further price gains.  The commodity price strength seen last year has led to a dramatic improvement in free cash flow in the mining sector and companies are now looking to return capital to shareholders. The base metals saw strong performance with copper, aluminium and zinc strengthening by +8.5%, +6.5% and +11.5% respectively, however nickel bucked this trend declining by -0.7%.  Similarly for bulk commodities, thermal coal and coking coal declined by -12.4% and -6.8% respectively during the month, whilst iron ore gained +5.2%.

Elsewhere, having both strengthened in the run up to Donald Trump’s inauguration speech, the US dollar and US equities came under pressure. As the newly elected President’s time in office commenced, he dominated global news, with press commentary surrounding his policies becoming recurrent. The announcement of the US travel ban, in combination with US dollar weakness on the back of treasury yields declining, resulted in the US dollar index (DXY) falling to levels not seen since early in December 2016, surmounting pressure on equities. This increased safe-haven buying interest appeared to be positive for gold bullion, which increased by +4.7% to finish the month at a price of $1,211/oz. In addition, Prime Minister Theresa May’s comments surrounding Brexit also stoked safe-haven buying interest, as the logistical impacts of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union still remain uncertain.

Update on Private Holding

The Directors are pleased to announce that following an independent valuation by SRK Consulting (UK) Limited (SRK) of the Avanco Royalty investment there has been an upwards revaluation to U$25.2m (previously U$12m) resulting in an estimated uplift to the NAV per share of 5.97 pence (based on an exchange rate of 1$ = £0.7984).  This investment will now represent approximately 2.7% of the Company’s net assets.

Since the previous annual SRK valuation as at 31 December 2015, the mine on the area subject to the royalty, Antas North, has moved from development to commercial production during 2016. Additionally, SRK now include a contribution from Pedra Branca East into their Preferred Technical Valuation, recognising the scoping study work that has been completed during 2016. This progress towards production has given a greater degree of confidence in the underlying parameters and therefore justifies inclusion within the overall valuation of the investment but still at a heavily discounted level due to not yet being in production. Further information is available in the Pedra Branca East Scoping Study and Development of Decline dated 12 September 2016 which can be found at http://www.avancoresources.com/content/investor-centre/asx-announcements/.

Strategy and Outlook

After an extended down-cycle, January 2016 appears to have marked the bottom for the mining sector. The sector 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.

22 February 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.