Performance at Month End

Mercury World Mining Trust PLC
8 December 2000


MERCURY WORLD MINING TRUST plc
All information is at 30th November 2000 and unaudited
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
                          One     Three     One     Three      Five
                        Month    Months    Year     Years     Years
Net asset value           0.1%    -11.3%   -1.1%     47.6%      1.9%
Share price              -2.4%    -12.1%   -6.3%     41.3%     -1.5%
HSBC Global Mining
Index (Capital Only)      0.9%     -7.7%   -4.1%     25.3%    -19.8%

At month end
Net asset value 102.77p    including current year net revenue of  1.6p
Share price:     81.75p    Discount to NAV:                      20.5%
                           Net yield:                             1.5%
Total assets:   £197.0m
Gearing:          12.3%
Ordinary shares in issue:      170,968,803
(no shares were repurchased during the month)

Sector                 % Total   Country               % Total
Analysis                Assets   Analysis               Assets
Diversified               26.6   South Africa             37.2
Base Metals               25.7   Canada                   16.5
Platinum                  19.0   Europe                   15.8
Gold                      15.6   Latin America            12.5
Silver/Diamonds           10.7   Australia                11.8
Industrial Minerals        2.9   USA                       6.4
Net current liabilities   (0.5)  Africa                    0.3
                                 Net current liabilities  (0.5)
                         -----                           -----
                         100.0                           100.0
                         =====                           =====

Ten Largest Equity Investments
Company          % Investments     Country of Risk
Impala Platinum            9.9     South Africa
De Beers Centenary         6.7     South Africa
Anglo American Platinum    6.3     South Africa
Phelps Dodge               5.3     USA
Minas Buenaventura         4.5     Peru
Cominco                    4.4     Canada
Alcan Aluminium            4.3     Canada
Vale Rio Doce              4.3     Brazil
Gold Fields                4.2     South Africa
Pechiney                   4.2     France
                          ----
Total                     54.1
                          ====

Commenting on the markets, Graham Birch, representing the Investment Manager
noted :
November lived up to its reputation as a seasonally dull month.  Investor
concern about the pace of the global economic slowdown was a recurring theme
and the market couldn't make up its mind whether to be bearish or bullish -
ending rather flat.  We again underperformed our benchmark.  This was partly
due to our 10% gearing and partly due to weakness in Latin America where our
overweight positions in CVRD (iron ore), Penoles (silver), Minsur (tin) and
Buenaventura (gold) hurt performance.

November's bright spot was again platinum.  Platinum and palladium both pushed
ahead to the tops of their respective trading ranges and this helped generate
some positive returns from our big holdings in Impala and Amplats.  Gold too
rallied a little and the FT Gold Mines Index bounced sharply off its
multi-year lows to finish the month up by over 5% in US dollar terms.  Gold
was helped by the record US trade deficit and its negative implications for
the value of the dollar.

As we start December, it is interesting to note that despite all of the doom
and gloom surrounding the US economy, the mining sector is beginning to
benefit somewhat from sector rotation.  It would appear that investors are
becoming more attracted to underlying strong cashflow and the earnings
transparency in the sector.


Sources: Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, HSBC Global Mining Index

Latest information is available by typing www.mlim.co.uk on the internet,
'MLIMINDEX' on Reuters, 'MLIM' on Bloomberg or '8800' on Topic 3 (ICV
terminal). 

6th December 2000