Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK WORLD MINING TRUST plc (LEI - LNFFPBEUZJBOSR6PW155)
All information is at 31 December 2019 and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
		One			Three		One		Three		Five
		Month			Months		Year		Years		Years
Net asset value		7.2%			5.6%		17.2%		28.8%		60.2%
Share price		9.7%			8.2%		19.4%		32.4%		67.4%
EMIX Global Mining Index (Net)		6.8%			5.5%		22.1%		37.8%		67.0%
(Total return)
Sources: BlackRock, EMIX Global Mining Index, Datastream
At month end
Net asset value including income1:								433.59p
Net asset value capital only:								422.87p
1 Includes net revenue of 10.72p
Share price:								383.00p
Discount to NAV2:								11.7%
Total assets:								£848.4m
Net yield3:								5.5%
Net gearing:								12.0%
Ordinary shares in issue:								174,784,727
Ordinary shares held in treasury:								18,227,115
Ongoing charges4:								0.9%
2 Discount to NAV including income. 3 Based on quarterly interim dividends of 4.00p per share declared on 14 November 2019, 20 August 2019 and 2 May 2019 in respect of the year ended 31 December 2019 and a final dividend of 9.00p per share announced on 28 February 2019 in respect of the year ended 31 December 2018. 4 Calculated as a percentage of average net assets and using expenses, excluding finance costs, for the year ended 31 December 2018.
Sector	% Total					Country Analysis				% Total
	Assets									Assets
Diversified	41.2					Global				64.6
Gold	22.9					Latin America				9.8
Copper	18.0					Australasia				8.9
Silver & Diamonds	5.7					Canada				7.9
Materials	4.8					South Africa				2.2
Industrial Minerals	4.5					United Kingdom				2.0
Iron Ore	1.2					Other Africa				1.2
Nickel	0.9					USA				0.9
Coal	0.5					Indonesia				0.9
Aluminium	0.2					Sweden				0.8
Zinc	0.1					Russia				0.6
Current assets/ liabilities	0.0					Kazakhstan				0.1
						Argentina				0.1
						Current assets/ liabilities				0.0
	-----									-----
	100.0									100.0
	=====									=====
Ten Largest Investments
Company				% Total Assets
BHP				9.7
Rio Tinto				9.3
Vale:   Equity   Debenture				5.2 3.4
Anglo American				6.1
Barrick Gold				4.4
Newmont Mining				4.4
First Quantum Minerals				4.2
Agnico Eagle Mines				3.9
Wheaton Precious Metals				3.7
OZ Minerals Brazil:   Royalty   Equity				2.1 1.4

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

Performance

The Company’s NAV increased by 7.2% in December, outperforming its reference index, the EMIX Global Mining Index (net return), which returned +6.8%.

It was a strong end to the year for the mining sector on the back of improved equity market sentiment, as well as rising mined commodity prices. Concerns around trade tensions eased as the US and China agreed terms for a trade deal. Meanwhile, there was early evidence of an improvement in the global economic growth outlook with, for example, China’s manufacturing PMI coming in at 51.5, indicating expansion. Mined commodity prices were up almost across the board, with copper, gold and iron ore prices up by 5.2%, 4.0% and 4.5% respectively. (Figures in USD)

Stock selection within the diversified sub-sector benefited relative performance. However, stock selection in the gold sector provided the most significant drag on relative performance.

Strategy and Outlook

We see an attractive valuation opportunity in mining today. The mining sector is generating close to record free cash flow, whilst balance sheets are in strong shape and companies remain focused on capital discipline. Our base case remains that we have positive global economic growth for the next 12-18 months, albeit at a slower rate than was expected this time last year. Barring an economic recession, we expect the mining sector to re-rate as the miners continue to generate robust free cash flow and return capital to shareholders through dividends and buybacks.

We expect most mined commodity prices to be stable to rising through 2020. On the commodity demand side, we do not anticipate a hard-landing type event in China and we have been encouraged by stimulus measures beginning to feed through into improvements in some economic data points. On the commodity supply side, supply is tight in most mined commodity markets and, given the cuts in mining sector spending since 2012 (down ~66%), we expect it to remain so.

All data points are in GBP terms unless stated otherwise.

22 January 2020

Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.uk/brwm on the internet. 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.