Performance at Month End

Merrill Lynch World Mining Tst PLC
12 August 2004


 MERRILL LYNCH WORLD MINING TRUST plc

 All information is at 31 July 2004 and unaudited.

 Performance at month end with net income reinvested

                                                                       One      Three        One      Three       Five
                                                                     month     months       year      years      years
Net asset value (undiluted)                                           1.5%       5.6%      25.7%      83.6%     140.5%
Net asset value (diluted)                                             1.2%       4.5%          -          -          -
Share price                                                           5.3%       8.8%      37.8%     106.5%     161.1%
HSBC Global Mining Index                                              1.7%       5.5%      19.2%      40.7%      69.4%

Sources: Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, HSBC Global Mining Index,
Datastream

At month end
Net asset value
Undiluted:                          203.77p         Includes current year net revenue of:                        1.20p
Fully diluted:                      206.31p
Share price:                        189.00p         Discount to undiluted NAV:                                    7.2%
Warrant price:                        5.50p         Net yield:                                                    0.9%
Total assets:                       £358.67m
Gearing:                            8.8%            Effective gearing:                                            8.8%
Ordinary shares in issue:                      162,800,000
Warrants in issue:                              32,559,564


Sector                               % Total Assets            Country                               % Total Assets
Analysis                                                       Analysis
Diversified                                    45.4            Canada                                          21.5
Base Metals                                    25.9            Latin America                                   20.9
Gold                                           13.7            Global                                          19.3
Silver/Diamonds                                 6.0            South Africa                                    12.5
Platinum                                        5.3            Australasia                                      9.9
Industrial Minerals                             3.7            China                                            5.4
Other                                           1.1            USA                                              3.9
Net current liabilities                        (1.1)           Europe                                           2.9
                                                               Other Africa                                     2.6
                                                               India                                            1.3
                                                               Laos                                             0.9
                                                               Net current liabilities                        (1.1)
                                              100.0                                                           100.0
Ten Largest Equity Investments
Company                            % of Investments          Country of Risk
CVRD                                            7.1          Latin America
Rio Tinto                                       6.4          Global
BHP Billiton                                    6.2          Global
Minas Buenaventura                              6.2          Latin America
Falconbridge                                    5.2          Canada
Impala Platinum                                 4.7          South Africa
Aber Diamond                                    4.1          Canada
Noranda                                         4.1          Canada
Alumina                                         4.1          Australia
Xstrata                                         3.6          Global
Total                                          51.7

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

Performance

Despite July being the first month of the holiday season, metal markets were
still in full swing.  The month witnessed further gains in metal prices with the
MG Base Metals Price Index closing the period up by 3.5%.  Lead and copper
performed particularly well over the period, rising 19.8% and 9.0% respectively.
This helped lift those of the Trust's holdings exposed to these metals, e.g.
copper producer Antofogasta (1.8% of the Trust), which was up 6.3% in Sterling
terms.

Many of the Trust's holdings released their second quarter and first half
results in July.  To date, these have shown how profitable some of the mining
companies are at today's commodity prices.  A good example is Rio Tinto (6.4% of
the Trust and up 8.1% over the month) which reported record first half earnings
of US$993m, an increase of 55% from the same period last year.  These strong
commodity prices seem set to continue, and as David Humphreys, chief economist
at Rio Tinto stated: 'Metals and mineral markets are tighter than for many
years...there is sufficient momentum in demand to keep the balance of these
markets tight through to the end of 2004 and into 2005'.  Consequently, we
expect further strong performance from mining equities during August as other
holdings in the Trust release their results.

Markets were volatile over the course of the month and rumours that CVRD (7.1%
of the Trust) was no longer in the running for Noranda, purportedly outbid by
China's Minmetals, helped the share price to rise by 13.1% over the month.
Going forward, Noranda and its parent company Brascan are likely to remain
tight-lipped about progress until they have a concrete proposal to set out
before shareholders.  This is of significance to the Trust as it has sizeable
holdings in both Falconbridge (5.2%) and Noranda (4.1%).

Continued Chinese growth, albeit at a reduced rate, supply-side constraints and
a pick up in global economic growth should mean that base metal inventories
remain low for the remainder of the year.  This scenario remains supportive of
high metal prices and with this in mind, mining shares appear attractively
priced.  As a result, we have maintained the Trust's gearing for the moment and
the Trust is structured to perform well in a buoyant environment.

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).

12 August 2004


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