Performance at Month End

Merrill Lynch World Mining Tst PLC
13 March 2001


MERRILL LYNCH WORLD MINING TRUST plc

All information is at 28 February 2001 and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
                          One     Three     One     Three     Five  
                        Month    Months    Year     Years     Years     
Net asset value           7.9%     20.5%   20.6%     72.7%     12.5%        
Share price               9.6%     23.6%   16.8%     68.6%     11.3%
 HSBC Global Mining
 Index (Capital Only)     5.9%     16.9%   22.5%     37.2%    -12.4%       

At month end              
Net asset value 122.41p                                               
Share price:     99.75p    Discount to NAV:                    18.5%
                           Net yield:                           1.3%
Total assets:   £219.9m
Gearing:           6.4%  
Ordinary shares in issue:      168,900,000
(299,852 shares were repurchased during the month).

Sector                 % Total   Country               % Total
Analysis                Assets   Analysis               Assets
Diversified               31.2   South Africa             38.7
Base Metals               22.7   Europe                   17.5
Gold                      17.0   Canada                   17.2
Platinum                  16.3   Latin America            13.1
Silver/Diamonds           11.3   Australia                13.0
Industrial Minerals        2.7   USA                       1.6 
Net current liabilities   (1.2)  Africa                    0.1 
                                 Net current liabilities  (1.2) 
                         -----                           -----
                         100.0                           100.0
                         =====                           =====

Ten Largest Equity Investments
Company          % Investments     Country of Risk    
Impala Platinum            9.6     South Africa
Anglo Platinum             6.3     South Africa
De Beers Centenary         6.3     South Africa
Gold Fields                5.7     South Africa
Minas Buenaventura         5.1     Peru
Cominco                    4.9     Canada
Billiton                   4.7     UK
Pechiney                   4.6     France
Vale Rio Doce              4.6     Brazil
Alcan Aluminium            4.0     Canada
                          ----
Total                     55.8
                          ====

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

Another good month with the NAV moving ahead by 7.9% and the share price up by
9.6%.  Mining shares are certainly turning in a good performance in comparison
with broad equity markets.  The Mining Trust NAV is now up by 11.9% in the
year to date whereas the FTSE All Share Index is down 3.6%.  

The good performance has been stimulated by the proposed merger between Anglo
and De Beers with both shares being positively re-rated on the news.  We did
quite nicely out of this and despite cutting back our holding in De Beers over
the month our combined holding in these companies still stands not far short
of ten percent.

As foreshadowed last month, the platinum shares declared spectacular
dividends, reflecting the strong underlying profitability in this business. 
Anglo Platinum hiked its final dividend by 160% to R11/share and also
announced a special dividend of R6/share.  Impala  tripled its interim
dividend to R14.20/share and announced a special dividend of R30/share.  This
puts Impala (the largest investment in our portfolio) on a prospective
dividend yield of 18% - it just goes to show what mining companies can do when
they get a bull market for metals.  

These dividends are no small matter for the portfolio and should enhance our
distributable earnings this year.
 
Overall, sentiment towards mining shares has certainly improved lately. 
Mining shares offer investors a good degree of earnings transparency,
relatively low cashflow/earnings multiples, and a reasonable dividend payout. 
Quite an attractive package in these challenging markets.


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, 'MLIM' on Bloomberg or '8800' on Topic 3 (ICV 
terminal).