Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK WORLD MINING TRUST plc All information is at 31 October 2009 and unaudited. Performance at month end with net income reinvested One Three One Three Five Month Months Year Years Years Net asset value* (undiluted) -0.7% 14.9% 85.6% 19.3% 163.3% Net asset value* (diluted) -0.7% 14.9% 84.9% 21.8% 162.5% Share price* -3.2% 11.4% 92.9% 14.2% 158.3% HSBC Global Mining Index -1.6% 10.9% 80.1% 43.4% 179.9% Sources: BlackRock, HSBC Global Mining Index, Datastream * Net asset value and share price performance includes the warrant reinvestment, assuming the 2004 and 2006 bonus warrant entitlement per share was sold and the proceeds reinvested on the first day of trading. At month end Net asset value Including Income Capital only Undiluted/Diluted: 576.82p# 571.94p # Includes net revenue of 4.88p Share price: 479.00p Discount to NAV**: 16.2% Total assets***: £1,025.37m Net yield: 1.15% Gearing: Nil Ordinary shares in issue: 177,762,242 Ordinary shares held in Treasury: 15,249,600 ** Discount to NAV based on capital only. *** Includes current year revenue. Sector % Total Country Analysis % Total Assets Assets Diversified 44.5 Latin America 31.2 Base Metals 19.5 Global 18.4 Gold 14.0 Australasia 10.5 Silver/Diamonds 6.9 South Africa 9.4 Platinum 6.7 Other Africa 7.5 Industrial Minerals 5.7 Canada 6.9 Other 0.9 Indonesia 4.3 Net current assets 1.8 USA 4.0 India 3.7 Emerging Asia 1.3 Europe 1.0 Net current assets 1.8 ----- ----- 100.0 100.0 ===== ===== Ten Largest Equity Investments (in alphabetical order) Company BHP Billiton First Quantum Minerals Freeport McMoRan Fresnillo Impala Platinum Minas Buenaventura Newcrest Mining Rio Tinto Teck Resources Vale Commenting on the markets, Evy Hambro, representing the Investment Manager noted: Performance Metals and minerals rallied throughout October on stronger Chinese and US economic data, record iron ore imports into China and as investors looked to hedge inflation risks. Against this background, copper gained 7.1% and aluminium gained 2.8% (LME). Precious metals in particular continued to feel support from financial interest and gold finished 4.4% up as the prospect of inflation continued to concern investors. US GDP numbers for the third quarter showed a 3.5% expansion of the economy, beating expectations of 3.3%. However, investors remain concerned around the weak housing and consumer numbers, which were reflective of fears that persistently high US unemployment has hurt consumer sentiment. Chinese third quarter GDP was also released during the month and came in at 8.9%. Despite concerns around the accuracy of this number, there were plenty of positive data points for mining investors, with large rises in spending on material heavy projects reported. Total fixed asset investment was up 33.4% (with rail up 87% and roads up 51%), in part driven by the $586 bn stimulus package that has been enacted in the country. Copper was also given a boost during the month as BHP Billiton announced that Olympic Dam, a copper mine in Australia, is expected to continue running at 25 per cent. of ore-haulage capacity (following an incident involving a runaway skip in its Clark shaft) until full output resumes in the first quarter of next year. The incident is expected to result in the loss of around 70,000 tonnes of copper and 1,500 tonnes of uranium production. Gold continued to dominate headlines during the month, pushing through $1,000/ oz and ending the month at $1,046/ oz as investors continued to fret about the US Dollar and inflation. In early November, gold pushed above $1,100/ oz following the announcement that the IMF had sold 200 tonnes of gold to the Reserve Bank of India. The country now becomes the tenth largest holder of the metal and the fourth largest holder in the developing world (behind China, Russia and Taiwan). Even with this purchase, India's gold represents less than 10% of its total reserves. Earlier this year the IMF had earmarked sales of 403 tonnes of gold, which were to be part of the CBGA (Central Bank Gold Agreement). The announcement was a surprise to the market, which had postulated that China could be a potential buyer, and fuelled speculation that other central banks with large US Dollar exposure may diversify into hard assets such as gold. Indeed, Sri Lanka also subsequently admitted to making gold purchases in the past six months. Company results for the third quarter were announced during the month and were generally more positive than previous quarters, with most companies reporting a more optimistic outlook. For example Rio Tinto, the world's second largest miner, announced a 12% increase in iron ore output over the third quarter, increased its forecast output of iron ore for the year to between 210 million and 215 million tonnes (or 5% to 7.5%) and stated that although they remain cautious, they are seeing signs of a recovery in their key markets. However, Newcrest Mining (Australia's largest gold-copper producer) reported disappointing third quarter production numbers, with production down 5% quarter-on-quarter, largely due to a slower ramp-up at Hidden Valley. Nevertheless, guidance for the full-year remained unchanged and the longer term outlook for the company is very strong. Newcrest has exploration success, development expertise and cash margins that are amongst the best in the gold industry. There continues to be significant acquisition activity in the sector as cash rich companies seek out growth opportunities at attractive pricing levels. During October, BHP Billiton Ltd launched a $189 million takeover bid for prospector United Minerals Corp. This company is a strong target for BHP as it is located in Pilbara, West Australia which is rich in iron ore deposits and close to existing BHP assets and a rail line. In the precious metals sector, Barrick Gold announced that it has purchased 70% of the El Morro project in Chile from Xstrata. El Morro is a large copper-gold deposit in the high Andes and is relatively close (70km) to one of Barrick's existing operations. Elsewhere, Randgold Resources reported that it has concluded the acquisition of Moto Goldmines. Randgold now has a strong growth profile going forward, with four new mines starting up. Strategy/Outlook The mining sector is facing a significantly better outlook than it was at the start of 2009. Commodity prices have rallied as the financial crisis has eased and, although financial distress in the sector has diminished, there remain many companies that have projects that are unlikely to be developed in the short term, if ever. Across the industry, the appetite for taking on development risk is quite a long way from returning and those projects that are being developed have had their scale revised markedly lower to reduce the financial and development risk. The shutdown of existing capacity over the last 12 months and the cancellation and scaling back of new supply means many commodities are constrained on the supply side. When we see demand recover, as we are possibly already starting to see the early signs of, the supply side's recent lack of investment should provide support for commodity prices. Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.uk/its on the internet, "BLRKINDEX" on Reuters, "BLRK" on Bloomberg or "8800" on Topic 3 (ICV terminal). 12 November 2009
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