Performance at Month End

Merrill Lynch World Mining Tst PLC
09 September 2003

 MERRILL LYNCH WORLD MINING TRUST plc

 All information is at 29 August 2003 and unaudited.

 Performance at month end with net income reinvested

                                                                       One       Three        One      Three        Five
                                                                     month      months       year      years       years
Net asset value                                                      11.5%       24.9%      38.1%      64.7%      308.7%
Share price                                                          14.3%       29.2%      41.9%      79.7%      314.3%
HSBC Global Mining Index (capital only)                              11.2%       25.5%      30.6%      27.1%      139.1%

 Sources: Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, HSBC Global Mining Index,
Datastream
At month end
Net asset value:                      182.09p*              Discount to NAV:                                       13.2%
Share price:                          158.00p               Net historic yield:                                     1.3%
Total assets:                         £301.2m
Gearing:                              2.6%                  Effective gearing:                                      4.1%
Ordinary shares in issue:             162,800,000

* includes current year net revenue of 1.66p


Sector                                      % Total          Country                                   % Total Assets
Analysis                                     Assets          Analysis

Diversified                                    33.7          Europe                                              25.9
Gold                                           25.4          South Africa                                        22.1
Base Metals                                    22.6          Canada                                              18.2
Platinum                                        8.2          Latin America                                       15.7
Silver/Diamonds                                 6.4          Australasia                                         12.3
Industrial Minerals                             3.7          China                                                2.9
Gold Bullion                                    1.5          SE Asia                                              2.6
Net current liabilities                         (1.5)        USA                                                  1.8
                                                             Net current liabilities                               (1.5)
                                              100.0                                                             100.0


Ten Largest Equity Investments
Company                                 % of Investments          Country of Risk

BHP Billiton                                         7.5          Global
Minas Buenaventura                                   7.2          Peru
Gold Fields                                          6.7          South Africa
Impala Platinum                                      6.2          South Africa
Rio Tinto                                            6.1          Global
CVRD                                                 5.5          Brazil
Aber Diamond                                         4.9          Canada
Harmony Gold Mining                                  4.5          South Africa
Falconbridge                                         3.9          Canada
Inco                                                 3.7          Canada
Total                                               56.2


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



Performance

August was another good month for the mining sector as investors' appetite for
cyclical stocks heightened. The Trust posted strong absolute performance, up
11.5% for the month, ahead of the HSBC Global Mining Index that returned 11.2%.
In base metals, the Trust benefited from its overweight position in copper.
Freeport Copper, Ivanhoe Mines and Palabora Mining were up 14%, 48% and 22%
respectively, on the back of stock specific news and continued improvements in
copper fundamentals. Palabora announced a rights issue to plug the funding gap
for the production ramp up of its underground mine and subsequently reported
better than expected production numbers for August. We initiated a holding in
the Peruvian copper mining company Cerro Verde.



In precious metals, the Trust enjoyed a valuation-driven rally in platinum
shares with Impala and Amplats up 25% and 19% respectively. The gold sector
continued to perform strongly with the bullion price up 6% for the month to
$375.6/oz. Gold equities responded well to the higher gold price and the HSBC
Global Gold Index finished 13.7% higher.



Portfolio Activity

We continue to focus the portfolio on stocks with a good chance of benefiting
from growth in China.  As a result, we added to core positions in Rio Tinto and
CVRD as well as Falconbridge. Since the month-end, we have initiated holdings in
two Chinese gold mining companies.



Derivatives and Commodities

We have gradually reduced our gold bullion holding as the price has
strengthened. It now stands at 1.5% of the portfolio. We have written calls over
a portion of the holdings in BHP Billiton and Gold Fields. If exercised the
holdings in these stocks would fall to 6.3% and 6.0% of the portfolio
respectively.



Outlook

Commodity markets and mining shares have surpassed our expectations this summer.
Provided economic growth gathers momentum in the US we can expect to see further
positive sentiment towards mining shares.



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).



9 September 2003




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