Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK WORLD MINING TRUST plc  (LEI - LNFFPBEUZJBOSR6PW155)
All information is at 30 April 2017 and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
		One			Three				One	Three		Five
		Month			Months				Year	Years		Years
Net asset value		-4.7%			-7.0%				39.7%	-4.9%		-34.4%
Share price		-2.9%			-9.8%				39.4%	-10.7%		-33.9%
Euromoney Global Mining Index		-5.8%			-10.4%				29.9%	5.4%		-20.3%
(Total return)
Sources: BlackRock, Euromoney Global Mining Index, Datastream
At month end
Net asset value including income1:								387.59p
Net asset value capital only:								380.28p
1 Includes net revenue of 7.31p
Share price:								336.25p
Discount to NAV2:								13.2%
Total assets:								£776.7m
Net yield3:								3.9%
Net gearing:								13.5%
Ordinary shares in issue:								176,455,242
Ordinary shares held in treasury:								16,556,600
Ongoing charges4:								1.10%
2 Discount to NAV including income. 3 Based on an interim dividend of 4.00p per share and a final dividend of 9.00p per share in respect of the year ended 31 December 2016. 4 Calculated as a percentage of average net assets and using expenses, excluding finance costs, for the year ended 31 December 2016.
Sector	% Total					Country Analysis					% Total
	Assets										Assets
Diversified	44.5					Global					63.4
Copper	21.0					Latin America					13.2
Gold	18.0					Australasia					9.4
Silver & Diamonds	10.1					Other Africa					6.9
Industrial Minerals	4.2					Canada					4.7
Iron Ore	1.3					South Africa					1.1
Zinc	0.8					Emerging Europe					0.9
Net current assets	0.1					Kazakhstan					0.3
	-----					Net current assets					0.1
	100.0										-----
	=====										100.0
											=====
Ten Largest Investments
Company				% Total Assets
Rio Tinto				10.7
First Quantum Minerals				9.0
Glencore				8.0
BHP Billiton				7.2
Vale				6.3
Lundin Mining				4.5
Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde				3.5
Newmont Mining				3.4
Newcrest Mining				2.8
South32				2.7

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

Performance

The mined commodities came under pressure in April with nickel, zinc and copper declining by 5.6%, 4.8% and 1.8% respectively. Sentiment towards these commodities appeared to be driven by tightening measures and liquidity controls in China which were heightened during the month. Despite this, activity data from China has continued to be robust with nominal growth jumping to a five-year high of 11.8% in the first quarter.

As first quarter reporting got underway during the month, the key trend emerging for the diversified miners was a continuation of free cash flow generation but production numbers lower than expectations due to a combination of weather events and labour strikes.

Strategy and Outlook

The mining sector has had a positive 2016 reporting season with deleveraging emerging as the key theme as improved commodity prices have allowed companies to significantly improve their balance sheets. For example, Rio Tinto and Glencore announced reductions in net debt of -30% over the last 12 months and -48% over the last 18 months respectively. Positively, the capital discipline story remained intact, with limited capex increases announced and management rhetoric still focusing on shareholder returns. Our view is that for now the pain of the recent down-cycle is too fresh and do not see companies falling back into old habits of poor capital discipline in the near-term.

Many of the miners are now trading on attractive free cash flow yields, for example, Glencore, Rio Tinto and Vale (the Company’s three largest mining positions) are all trading on free cash flow yields of between 9% and 11% at consensus pricing. The market does not appear to believe these yields are sustainable, with many still cautious of mining shares, but every day that commodity prices remain at current levels the miners are growing cash on their balance sheets. BHP Billiton, Glencore and Rio Tinto all announced sizeable increases in their dividends in the recent reporting season, less than two years after being forced to cut them, showing that cash is being returned to shareholders.

Looking ahead, we expect the mining sector’s performance to remain volatile but see the outlook as positive. The macroeconomic backdrop points to a stable to improving demand picture, whilst the underinvestment of recent years is constraining the supply side of the equation. Capital expenditure in the mining sector has fallen by two-thirds since the peak in 2012 and this is feeding through to production, with most mined commodities recording declines in 2016 versus 2015. China remains the key risk for investors in the mining sector and should sentiment deteriorate significantly again the sector would likely come under pressure.

All data points are in US dollar terms unless stated otherwise.

16 May 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.