Performance at month end

Merrill Lynch World Mining Tst PLC
7 September 2001

MERRILL LYNCH WORLD MINING TRUST plc

All information is at 31 August 2001 and unaudited.

Performance at month end with net income reinvested

                                         One  Three   One      Three       Five
                                       month months  year      years      years
Net asset value                         0.9% -13.1%  2.1%     153.4%      10.1%
Share price                             0.0% -14.1%  4.9%     141.8%       5.4%
HSBC Global Mining Index(Capital Only) -0.3% -12.7%  2.8%      93.5%     -10.0%

Sources: Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, HSBC Global Mining Index
At month end
Net asset value                     117.00p
Share price                         96.25p
Discount to NAV                     17.7%
Net yield                           1.4%
Total assets                        £193.3m
Gearing                             0.7%
Ordinary shares in issue            168,200,000

(no shares were repurchased and cancelled during the month).
Sector                     % Total           Country                    % Total
                            Assets                                       Assets
Analysis                                     Analysis
Diversified                   35.3           South Africa                  31.0
Gold                          21.6           Europe                        23.2
Base Metals                   19.6           Canada                        15.3
Platinum                      17.1           Latin America                 14.7
Industrial Minerals            6.3           Australia                     10.1
Silver/Diamonds                2.9           USA                            8.5
Gold Bullion                   0.5           Gold Bullion                   0.5
Net current                  (3.3)           Net current                  (3.3)
liabilities                  -----           liabilities                  -----
                             100.0                                        100.0
                             -----                                        -----

Ten Largest Equity Investments
Company                     % Investments       Country of Risk
BHP Billiton                          9.3       Global
Impala Platinum                       8.6       South Africa
Teck Cominco                          7.9       Canada
Pechiney                              6.4       France
Minas Buenaventura                    6.4       Peru
Gold Fields                           5.9       South Africa
Anglo Platinum                        5.3       South Africa
Alcan Aluminium                       4.7       Canada
Vale Rio Doce                         4.5       Brazil
Rio Tinto                             4.3       Global
                                     ----
                                     63.3
                                     ----



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

The Northern Hemisphere summer is seasonally the weakest period of the year
for the metals markets and with growth in the main commodity consuming regions
rather sluggish it was a little surprising to us that metals held up so well.
Base metals on average rose slightly during August and gold rose by over 2.5%.
Part of the reason may lie in the weaker trend to the dollar which retreated
during August from the 15 year high (trade weighted basis) attained during
July. Economic weakness may also be largely factored into prices now and some
analysts are tentatively signalling an end to the cycle of downgrades.

The big issue for commodity markets will now be the strength of the seasonal
pick up in the fourth quarter. With Europe now starting back to work after the
summer break we will be watching LME inventory data carefully for signs of
draw-down.

The portfolio had a reasonably good month rising by 0.9%. The platinum
equities which hurt us significantly in July recovered somewhat and Anglo
Platinum paid us a healthy dividend following strong results. Impala's results
were also good and another big dividend looms this month. Impala has now
declared dividends totalling Rand 68/share this year - giving a yield of 18%.

Results generally for the first half of 2001 were within the range of our
expectations. Companies most exposed to base metals struggled, while the
diversified miners such as Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton reported solid results
on the back of good cashflow from iron ore and coal.

The next two to three months are likely to see volatility in the sector as
optimism waxes and wanes regarding the economic outlook for 2002. Our view is
cautious optimism, but for the moment we will retain our relatively defensive
stance and make minimal use of gearing.

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).

7 September 2001

ENDS