Performance at month end

Merrill Lynch World Mining Tst PLC
12 April 2001


MONTHLY PERFORMANCE

MERRILL LYNCH WORLD MINING TRUST plc

All information is at 30 March 2001 and unaudited.

Performance at month end with net income reinvested

                                               One   Three   One Three    Five
                                             month  months  year years   years

Net asset value                              -8.8%    2.1% 14.1% 56.6%   -1.4%
Share price                                  -8.3%    1.3% 16.3% 50.3%   -0.4%
HSBC Global Mining Index(Capital Only)       -6.5%    4.3% 13.6% 25.6%  -19.4%

At month end
Net asset value                             111.68p
Share price                                  91.50p
Discount to NAV                               18.1%
Net yield                                      1.4%
Total assets                                £200.8m
Gearing                                        6.8%
Ordinary shares in issue               168,500,000

(400,000 shares were repurchased during the month).

Sector Analysis              % Total       Country Analysis             % Total
                              Assets                                     Assets

Diversified                     32.5       South Africa                    34.1
Base Metals                     23.8       Canada                          19.1
Gold                            18.0       Europe                          18.5
Platinum                        13.9       Australia                       13.9
Silver/Diamonds                  9.9       Latin America                   13.8
Industrial Minerals              2.3       USA                              1.0
Net current                    (0.4)       Net current                    (0.4)
liabilities                                liabilities
                               100.0                                      100.0


Ten Largest Equity Investments

Company                     % Investments       Country of Risk

Impala Platinum                       7.1       South Africa
Cominco                               5.9       Canada
Gold Fields                           5.8       South Africa
Minas Buenaventura                    5.4       Peru
Billiton                              5.1       UK
De Beers Centenary                    5.1       South Africa
Anglo Platinum                        5.1       South Africa
Pechiney                              4.8       France
Vale Rio Doce                         4.7       Brazil
Alcan Aluminium                       4.4       Canada
Total                                53.4



Commenting on the markets, Graham Birch, representing the Investment Manager
noted

March was one of those months that fund managers rather glibly describe as a
'setback'. The ML World Mining Trust fell by 8.8% in comparison with a 6.5%
fall in our benchmark index. These declines were triggered by generally lower
metal prices and an underlying perception that economic conditions are still
deteriorating. On average base metals prices declined by 6.2% and gold fell by
about 2.5%. Platinum and palladium also fell by 6 to 7%.

March was a busy month for corporate news. The biggest announcement came from
BHP and Billiton which announced that they are to merge in an all paper deal.
Billiton shareholders come out of it reasonably well - good news for the
Trust. Assuming the deal goes through, and we believe that it will, the Trust
would have an aggregate holding of about 8.4% in the merged company.

Over in North America, Cominco continues to benefit from the power crisis in
the USA and announced that it will make further cuts in zinc output in order
to divert energy into the US grid. Cominco shares have performed well on the
back of this news.

We have decided to dispose of our holding of Labrador Iron Ore Trust following
an increased bid for it by Rio Tinto.

Key disappointments came from Pasminco and our platinum shares. Pasminco is an
Australian zinc company that has faced various problems both financially and
technically. We felt that it was too cheap to sell and have hung on as the
stock declined. Pasminco makes up less than 1% of the Trust's portfolio now
and its capacity to drag our performance down from here on is small.

The platinum shares went ex-dividend in March and promptly fell sharply. These
shares remain rather good value and we have decided to maintain our holdings
for the moment.



Sources: Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, HSBC Global Mining Index

Latest information is available by typing 'www.mlim.co.uk/its' on the
internet, 'MLIMINDEX' on Reuters and 'MLIM' on Bloomberg or '0800' on Topic 3
(ICV terminal).

12 April 2001

ENDS