Performance at Month End

Merrill Lynch World Mining Tst PLC
16 February 2004


MERRILL LYNCH WORLD MINING TRUST plc

All information is at 31 January 2004 and unaudited.

Performance at month end with net income reinvested

                                                                       One      Three        One      Three       Five
                                                                     month     months       year      years      years
Net asset value                                                      -8.6%       3.8%      53.6%     101.0%     279.6%
Share price                                                          -9.8%       0.4%      59.8%     123.9%     267.3%
HSBC Global Mining Index (capital only)                              -7.1%       1.2%      46.0%      36.4%     110.2%

 Sources: Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, HSBC Global Mining Index,
Datastream
At month end
Net asset value:                      220.14p*              Discount to NAV:                                       11.3%
Share price:                          195.25p               Net historic yield:                                     1.1%
Total assets:                         £384.7m
Gearing:                              8.1%                  Effective gearing:                                      8.4%
Ordinary shares in issue:             162,800,000

* includes current year net revenue of 1.44p


Sector                                      % Total          Country                                   % Total Assets
Analysis                                     Assets          Analysis
Diversified                                    38.7          Europe                                              23.5
Base Metals                                    27.6          Canada                                              20.7
Gold                                           18.4          Latin America                                       17.7
Silver/Diamonds                                 6.7          South Africa                                        17.2
Platinum                                        5.6          Australasia                                         11.7
Industrial Minerals                             3.7          China                                                5.3
Physical Metals                                 0.5          USA                                                  3.1
Net current liabilities                         (1.2)        SE Asia                                              1.5
                                                             Metals                                               0.5
                                                             Net current liabilities                               (1.2)
                                              100.0                                                             100.0


Ten Largest Equity Investments
Company                                % of Investments          Country of Risk
CVRD                                                7.0          Brazil
Rio Tinto                                           6.6          Global
Minas Buenaventura                                  6.0          Peru
BHP Billiton                                        5.2          Global
Aber Diamond                                        4.7          Canada
Falconbridge                                        4.6          Canada
Impala Platinum                                     4.6          South Africa
Alumina                                             4.4          Australia
Aluminium Corp of China                             3.8          China
Inco                                                3.7          South Africa
Total                                              50.6


The Merrill Lynch World Mining Trust plc annual report and accounts are due to
be mailed to shareholders on 23 February 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).


16 February 2004


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange