Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK WORLD MINING TRUST plc All information is at 31 July 2012 and unaudited. Performance at month end with net income reinvested One Three One Three Five Month Months Year Years Years Net asset value (undiluted) -2.3% -15.4% -29.3% 31.1% -2.0% Net asset value (diluted) -2.3% -15.4% -29.3% 31.1% 3.0% Share price -1.5% -16.3% -25.0% 34.7% -2.3% HSBC Global Mining Index* -1.9% -11.5% -29.5% 13.3% 8.8% *Total return Sources: BlackRock, HSBC Global Mining Index, Datastream At month end Net asset value Including Income Capital Only Undiluted/diluted: 638.32p* 625.60p *Includes net revenue of 12.72p Share price: 559.00p Discount to NAV**: 12.4% Total assets: £1,241.43m Net yield***: 2.5% Gearing: 9.7% Ordinary shares in issue: 177,287,242 Ordinary shares held in Treasury: 15,724,600 ** Discount to NAV including Income. *** Based on final ordinary dividend of 14.00p per share in respect of the year ended 31 December 2011. Sector % Total Country Analysis % Total Assets Assets Diversified 35.5 Global 38.8 Base Metals 18.2 Latin America 19.0 Industrial Minerals 17.2 Other Africa 16.0 Gold 9.1 Australasia 8.3 Silver & Diamonds 8.6 South Africa 5.5 Platinum 2.5 Republic of Congo 1.0 Energy Minerals 0.9 Emerging Europe 1.0 Net current assets 8.0 Democratic Republic of Congo 0.9 ----- Canada 0.7 100.0 USA 0.4 ===== Indonesia 0.3 Mongolia 0.1 Net current assets 8.0 ----- 100.0 ===== Ten Largest Investments % Total Assets Company Rio Tinto 9.1 BHP Billiton 8.7 London Mining 6.8 Glencore Finance (Europe) 5% 31/12/14 5.9 Minas Buenaventura 4.3 Teck Resources 4.3 First Quantum Minerals 4.2 Vale 4.1 Industrias Penoles 3.6 Freeport McMoRan 3.5 Commenting on the markets, Evy Hambro, representing the Investment Manager noted: Performance Mixed economic data out of both the US and China during the month did little to lighten the gloom over the global economy. Equities began the month by trending lower, however later on in the period Mario Draghi's comment (President of the ECB) on the scope of the ECB's mandate to combat high borrowing costs for Eurozone countries provided some relief and global equities rallied. Commodities and mining equities have continued to be driven by Chinese economic data in the near term. While interest rate cuts in both June and July may go some way to easing the availability of credit, there has been little sign of fiscal stimulus at present and as a result most commodities trended lower over the period. Weak steel prices continued to drag on commodities involved in the production of steel. Iron ore and coking coal both came under pressure falling by 18% (62% Fe and spot coking coal) over the month. Many commodities are currently trading close to their marginal cost of production (including, nickel, zinc, aluminium, iron ore and thermal coal). This is providing support at current levels with any further falls likely to trigger production cuts. We have a preference for those commodities that have a steeper cost curve allowing those producers operating at the lower end or middle of the cost curve to generate strong positive cash margins through all market cycles. Iron ore is a good example of this; the companies the portfolio has exposure to are producing at around $40-60/t yet the marginal cost producers are significantly above the current price of $116.2/t (Fe 62%). This is supportive of the strong margin that lower cost producers are currently benefitting from. In equity news, Barrick the large cap North American gold producer provided an update to the market in July. They revised the capital cost estimate for Pascua Lama, a key development project, up by 50% from the original $4.5-5bn forecast and pushed project start up out by a year to mid-2014. Production guidance at their Lumwana copper project in the Zambia was also revised by -37%. Both of these factors contributed to weak first half results for Barrick. Strategy/Outlook The global macro-economic outlook and fragile investor sentiment continue to drive the near-term performance of the mining sector. Recent moves towards monetary loosening and the possibility of fiscal stimulus should be supportive of commodities demand. China has enacted two sets of interest rate cuts in less than a month, the ECB has cut interest rates to 0.75% and the Bank of England has instigated a further round of quantitative easing. Market watchers are now focused on whether the Federal Reserve will follow suit. Stimulus and accommodating monetary policy aside, commodities demand has remained comparatively robust. In addition, the supply side continues to be challenged by both short term factors, such as weather events, and longer term ones, such as labour shortages and grade declines. Mining company valuations are currently trading below historical averages and the potential for strong returns over the medium term are good. We remain focused on companies with balance sheet strength and high asset quality as we believe these factors will be key differentiators. In addition, mining managements have shown themselves to be willing to share balance sheet strength with investors through dividends and buybacks, a trend they would do well to continue. 13 August 2012 ENDS Latest information is available by typing www.brwmplc.co.uk on the internet, "BLRKINDEX" on Reuters, "BLRK" on Bloomberg or "8800" on Topic 3 (ICV terminal). Neither the contents of the Manager's website nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Manager's website (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.
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