Performance at Month End

Merrill Lynch World Mining Tst PLC
10 October 2003

MERRILL LYNCH WORLD MINING TRUST plc

All information is at 30 September 2003 and unaudited.

Performance at month end with net income reinvested

                                                One       Three        One      Three        Five
                                              month      months       year      years       years
Net asset value                                2.6%       27.2%      47.1%      89.2%      244.3%
Share price                                    3.5%       30.5%      51.2%      88.5%      240.6%
HSBC Global Mining Index (capital only)       -2.9%       20.0%      38.0%      36.5%       95.6%

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

At month end
Net asset value:                      186.91p*              Discount to NAV:            12.5%
Share price:                          163.50p               Net historic yield:          1.3%
Total assets:                         £317.1m
Gearing:                              5.2%                  Effective gearing:           6.6%
Ordinary shares in issue:             162,800,000

* includes current year net revenue of 1.77p



Sector                                      % Total          Country                                   % Total Assets
Analysis                                     Assets          Analysis

Diversified                                    35.4          Europe                                              24.0
Gold                                           24.6          South Africa                                        21.7
Base Metals                                    21.0          Canada                                              19.7
Platinum                                        8.5          Latin America                                       16.2
Silver/Diamonds                                 7.4          Australasia                                         10.8
Industrial Minerals                             3.6          China                                                3.3
Gold Bullion                                    0.8          SE Asia                                              2.6
Net current liabilities                        (1.3)        USA                                                   1.6
                                                             Metals                                               1.4
                                                             Net current liabilities                             (1.3)
                                              100.0                                                             100.0


Ten Largest Equity Investments
Company                                 % of Investments          Country of Risk

Rio Tinto                                            7.0          Global
BHP Billiton                                         6.8          Global
Minas Buenaventura                                   6.8          Peru
Impala Platinum                                      6.6          South Africa
Gold Fields                                          6.4          South Africa
CVRD                                                 6.1          Brazil
Aber Diamond                                         5.7          Canada
Falconbridge                                         4.1          Canada
Harmony Gold Mining                                  4.1          South Africa
Inco                                                 3.6          Canada
Total                                               57.2


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



September proved to be a continuation of the improving trend in both metal
markets and mining equities.  On average, base metals prices rose by just under
2% and gold rose by even more - touching a seven year high of about $390/ounce
at month end.  The Trust's asset value strengthened considerably and comfortably
outpaced the movement in the benchmark index.



The strategic themes which we have been pursuing in the portfolio have begun to
generate results.  Our main aim has been to capture the potential of China's
strong growth rate.  We have done this by focussing on those companies best
placed to benefit from China's structural shortage of key raw materials,
specifically iron ore, nickel, copper and alumina.  Companies that produce these
four key commodities comprise about half of the portfolio.



We have also added some new names to the portfolio in recent months (i.e.
Norilsk, Amerigo, Cerro Verde, First Quantum, Shandong, Zhongjin, MPI, and
Knight) with the intention of holding companies with a higher 'beta' to
improving commodity markets.  Although the positions in such companies are quite
small, we hope to gain some useful 'outperformance' if markets continue to
improve.



We have sold calls covering a portion of our holdings in BHP Billiton, Gold
Fields and Gold Bullion.  If exercised, these would reduce the Trust's holdings
to about 5.9%, 5.5% and 0.0% of net asset value ('NAV') respectively.  We have
written puts in Rio Tinto which, if exercised, would lift the holding to 7.7% of
NAV.



Outlook

The summer proved to be a surprisingly strong period for mining shares, given
that we normally expect to see seasonal weakness in commodities at this time.
We are now entering a period of seasonal strength and October has already seen
further progress in mining share prices.  If cyclical recovery continues in the
US and Europe then commodity prices should  improve in 2004.


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).

10 October 2003




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