Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK WORLD MINING TRUST plc
All information is at 30 April 2016 and unaudited.
Performance at month end with net income reinvested
		One			Three				One	Three		Five
		Month			Months				Year	Years		Years
Net asset value		15.8%			51.5%				-13.1%	-37.5%		-61.0%
Share price		14.6%			56.0%				-12.8%	-38.7%		-59.5%
Euromoney Global Mining Index		18.8%			58.5%				-10.1%	-25.4%		-53.6%
(Total return)
Sources: BlackRock, Euromoney Global Mining Index, Datastream
At month end
Net asset value including income*:								286.74p
Net asset value capital only:								282.15p
*Includes net revenue of 4.59p
Share price:								250.50p
Discount to NAV**:								12.6%
Total assets:								£570.8m
Net yield***:								8.4%
Net gearing:								9.9%
Ordinary shares in issue:								176,455,242
Ordinary shares held in treasury:								16,556,600
Ongoing charges****:								1.2%
** Discount to NAV including income. *** Based on an interim dividend of 7.00p per share and a final dividend of 14.00p per share in respect of the year ended 31 December 2015. **** Calculated as a percentage of average net assets and using expenses, excluding finance costs, for the year ended 31 December 2015.
Sector	% Total					Country Analysis					% Total
	Assets										Assets
Diversified	36.8					Global					51.7
Gold	23.1					Latin America					15.5
Copper	19.7					Other Africa					9.4
Silver & Diamonds	14.7					Australasia					9.3
Nickel	3.7					Canada					7.6
Industrial Minerals	3.0					Emerging Europe					4.5
Iron Ore	0.1					South Africa					3.4
Other	0.7					Indonesia					0.4
Net current liabilities	(1.8)					Net current liabilities					(1.8)
	-----										-----
	100.0										100.0
	=====										=====
Ten Largest Investments
Company				% Total Assets
BHP Billiton				10.2
Rio Tinto				8.5
First Quantum Minerals				7.2
Glencore				6.1
Lundin Mining				5.0
Fresnillo				4.1
Norilsk Nickel				3.7
Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde				3.7
Newcrest Mining				3.1
Randgold Resources				3.0

Commenting on the markets, Evy Hambro and Olivia Markham, representing the Investment Manager noted:

Performance

The mining sector continued to outperform global equity markets in April, as displayed by a +1.6% increase in the MSCI World Index in comparison to a +21.1% increase in the Euromoney Global Mining Index. Improving data from China, combined with US dollar weakness, provided commodity price support and buoyed the sector. Positive data from China included a pick-up in the official manufacturing PMI bringing it into expansionary territory for the first time since August 2015 and better than expected property data. US dollar weakness appeared to be driven by the Federal Reserve highlighting concerns over world growth and the market’s lessening confidence in the possibility of a meaningful US rate rise in the near term.

The reporting season got underway during the month as Vale reported better than expected first quarter results to which the market responded positively. It is our view that this increase in earnings was likely a short-term phenomenon driven by the ~52% rally in the iron ore price year to date. Elsewhere, First Quantum, the global copper miner, also reported better than expected results during the period. Management’s reiteration of its strategy to transition its debt from corporate financing to project financing gave the market confidence in its ability to further strengthen the balance sheet and the stock was rewarded as a result. In other news, Anglo American pleased the market by announcing the sale of its niobium/phosphate asset for $1.5bn, bringing the company closer to achieving its goal of raising $4bn from asset sales this year.

In the portfolio we initiated a position in Teck, a global diversified miner with a large base of coking coal assets. The company announced robust results during the month and we are increasingly positive on the near term outlook for coking coal. To fund this we exited our position in Potash Corporation.

Strategy and Outlook

The key focus for the mining sector is currently whether underlying commodity demand (principally in China) is maintained and if it will continue to improve during the second quarter of 2016. We have seen some early signs of a pick-up in demand with improvements in the property markets, steel prices and liquidity, but we need to see further evidence to feel comfortable that the positive share price performance this year has been driven by improved fundamentals, as opposed, to short covering / investor positioning.

Today, many mined commodities’ prices sit well below marginal costs, which should mean that downside for prices is limited. However, commodity cost curves have been compressed, as the sector has been able to meaningfully cut costs and weakening commodity currencies (such as the Australian and Canadian dollar) and lower oil prices have provided additional cost benefits. Fundamentally, whilst supply can be sticky for a number of reasons, a cash negative operation cannot persist indefinitely. We have just begun to see the first of the long-awaited supply cuts announced but mined commodity prices will need to remain at current levels for a few months or move lower before we see real momentum in cuts. In light of this, we expect to see companies further reduce capital spending and operating costs this year in order to bolster their balance sheets.

All data points are in US dollar terms unless stated otherwise.

12 May 2016

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.