Performance at month end

Merrill Lynch World Mining Tst PLC
12 June 2002


MONTHLY PERFORMANCE

MERRILL LYNCH WORLD MINING TRUST plc

All information is at 31 May 2002 and unaudited.

Performance at month end with net income reinvested

                                                                        One      Three       One      Three       Five
                                                                      month     months      year      years      years

Net asset value                                                       11.7%      18.6%     32.0%     130.0%      70.4%
Share price                                                           11.2%      29.1%     41.1%     137.1%      82.4%
HSBC Global Mining Index (capital only)                                7.6%       6.1%      8.2%      59.3%      17.5%
MSCI World Metals & Mining Index (capital only)                        5.7%       1.9%      0.6%      25.3%     -10.2%

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

At month end

Net asset value                         173.95p            Discount to NAV:                                    11.5%
Share price:                            154.00p            Net historic yield:                                  2.1%
Total assets:                           £285.8m
Gearing:                                1.5%               Effective gearing:                                   3.0%
Ordinary shares in issue:               162,945,461

Sector Analysis                                Total Assets (%)   Country Analysis                      Total Assets (%)

Gold                                                      32.5    South Africa                                     37.7
Diversified                                               23.4    Europe                                           16.7
Base Metals                                               16.6    Latin America                                    15.0
Platinum                                                  13.2    Canada                                           12.9
Industrial Minerals                                        7.6    Australasia                                      11.5
Silver/Diamonds                                            7.0    USA                                               5.2
Gold Bullion                                               0.8    China                                             1.3
Base Metal Futures                                         0.4    Gold Bullion                                      0.8

Net current liabilities                                   (1.5)   Base Metal Futures                                0.4

                                                                  Net current liabilities                          (1.5)
                                                         ------                                                   ------
                                                         100.0                                                    100.0
                                                         ------                                                   ------


Ten Largest Equity Investments

Company                                             % Investments      Country of Risk

Gold Fields                                                  10.6      South Africa
Impala Platinum                                               7.9      South Africa
Harmony Gold Mining                                           7.1      South Africa
Minas Buenaventura                                            7.1      Peru
BHP Billiton                                                  5.5      Global
Aber Diamond                                                  4.9      Canada
CVRD                                                          4.6      Brazil
Pechiney                                                      4.6      France
Anglo Platinum                                                3.9      South Africa
Western Mining Corporation                                    3.4      Australia
                                                             ----
Total                                                        59.6
                                                             ----



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

Performance

May was another strong month for the sector with a 7.6% rise in the HSBC Global
Mining Index and a rise of 11.7% in the Trust's NAV. Year to date the Trust is
now up by 46.1% versus a rise of 21.9% for the HSBC Global Mining Index. The
continued strong performance from gold shares, driven by the rise in the gold
price to a high of U$330/oz during the month, again added to the overall
performance of the portfolio. This was especially important given that the
non-gold shares had an indifferent month. Uncertainty on the pricing of bulk
commodities, such as iron ore and coal, caused a mid month sell-off in the large
diversified companies. Aluminium producers' shares were also weak due to rumours
of capacity restarts in the US Pacific Northwest. Copper shares were the bright
spot following a rise in the copper price, which moved higher after news that
BHP Billiton are to extend the capacity curtailment at Escondida and unions are
causing problems at Grupo Mexico's Cananea mine.

A pleasant surprise was the diamond price rise announced by De Beers towards the
end of the month - a factor which helped propel Aber Diamonds to a new high.


Portfolio Activity

During the month the Trust participated in the highly successful IPO of ARM Gold
in South Africa. We have subsequently taken a profit on this holding. The Trust
increased exposure to base metals, adding especially to the positions in Rio
Tinto and Inco and re-establishing a holding in MIM. This was funded by trimming
the large overweight position in gold shares. The direct holdings in base metals
futures were cut back.


Strategy/Outlook


The outlook for base metals, particularly the price of copper, continues to
improve as economic indicators now signal a turnaround in demand for metals.
Price negotiations for the bulk commodities concluded at the end of the month,
with the producers again coming off best, boding well for the earnings of the
diversified mining companies. The outlook for the other leg to the portfolio,
the precious metals assets (gold and platinum shares), remains healthy. Gold
producers continue to reduce hedging, investment demand continues to rise,
whilst at the same time newly mined supply is declining.


Derivatives

Following recent sales, the direct metals futures positions now total less than
0.5% of the Trust's NAV. We have written an aluminium put option which, if
exercised, would increase the total direct base metals exposure to about 1.5% of
NAV. We have written a gold call option which, if exercised, would result in the
sale of the Trust's physical gold holding (10,000 oz) at a price of $320/oz.

We have written a put option which, if exercised, would result in a small
increase to the Trust's Alcoa holding - taking it to about 1.4% of NAV. We have
also written a put option which, if exercised, would increase the Trust's
holding in MIM from 0.7% to 1.3% of NAV.


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 June 2002

ENDS



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