Performance at Month End

Merrill Lynch World Mining Tst PLC
12 May 2005


MERRILL LYNCH WORLD MINING TRUST plc

All information is at 30 April 2005 and unaudited.

Performance at month end with net income reinvested

                                                                       One      Three        One      Three       Five
                                                                     month     months       year      years      years
Net asset value (undiluted)                                         -10.0%      -3.3%      24.3%      57.7%     175.6%
Net asset value (diluted)                                            -8.4%      -3.3%      21.8%          -          -
Share price*                                                         -6.8%      -2.3%      22.9%      60.0%     213.6%
HSBC Global Mining Index                                             -9.5%      -3.7%      19.0%      35.2%      99.5%

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

*Performance includes the warrant reinvestment, assuming the bonus warrant
entitlement per share was sold and reinvested on the first day of trading.


At month end
Net asset value
Undiluted:                          237.81p*        Includes net revenue of:                                     1.47p
Fully diluted:                      235.20p
Share price:                        211.25p         Discount to diluted NAV:                                     10.2%
Warrant price:                          Nil*        Net yield:                                                    0.8%
Total assets:                       £431.9m
Gearing:                               8.6%
Ordinary shares in issue:                      162,298,906
Warrants in issue:                              27,060,658



(*The undiluted NAV for Merrill Lynch World Mining Trust plc has been prepared
based on the 5,498,906 warrants that have been confirmed as exercised to date.
However the final number of warrants exercised will not be available for up to
14 days following the exercise date as detailed in the prospectus.  The diluted
NAV continues to be prepared on the basis that all remaining warrants are
exercised).


Sector                                 % Total Assets           Country                               % Total Assets
Analysis                                                        Analysis
Diversified                                      48.8           Latin America                                   23.1
Base Metals                                      24.1           Global                                          20.6
Gold                                              9.7           Canada                                          15.3
Industrial Minerals                               5.3           Australasia                                     10.4
Silver/Diamonds                                   4.6           South Africa                                     9.1
Platinum                                          4.4           Europe                                           5.4
Other                                             1.0           USA                                              4.0
Net current assets                                2.1           China                                            3.7
                                                                Other Africa                                     2.8
                                                                India                                            1.9
                                                                Indonesia                                        0.8
                                                                Laos                                             0.8
                                                                Net current assets                               2.1
                                                100.0                                                          100.0
Ten Largest Equity Investments
Company                             % of Total Assets         Region of Risk
CVRD                                              9.6         Latin America
Rio Tinto                                         7.8         Global
BHP Billiton                                      6.7         Global
Falconbridge                                      6.1         Canada
Minas Buenaventura                                4.7         Latin America
Alumina                                           4.3         Australia
Teck Cominco                                      3.9         Canada
Impala Platinum                                   3.9         South Africa
Xstrata                                           3.3         Global
Iluka Resources                                   3.2         Australia
Total                                            53.5




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

Reminiscent of April 2004, last month saw significant falls in the metals and
mining markets.  This was largely the result of weaker economic data and fears
of slowing US growth.  Metal prices were down over the month, with the MG Base
Metal Price Index falling 4.8%.  Mining shares, as measured by the HSBC Global
Mining Index, were down 9.5%.  On a positive note however, economic data out of
China bodes well for the year with GDP growth for the first quarter at 9.5%,
ahead of market consensus of 9.0% and equivalent to the same period last year.
Industrial production was up a massive 16%.

A number of the Company's holdings released their first quarter production and
earnings figures.  Teck Cominco (3.9% of the Company's total assets) reported
extremely strong results, with operating earnings up 84% year on year.  This
large increase was primarily down to significantly higher realised metal prices
- copper up 8%, zinc up 20%, coal up 36% and molybdenum up a massive 238%.  Teck
also announced a further doubling of their dividend, as the company passes on
their strong cash flows to shareholders.  Rio Tinto (7.8% of total assets) and
BHP Billiton (6.7% of total assets) also released solid Q1 production figures.
Rio's iron ore production rose 17% year on year, alumina by 38% and coking coal
by 58%.  BHP Billiton saw record alumina production and iron ore production up
14% compared to Q1 2004.

At the end of April, the Company gained some direct exposure to uranium through
initiating a small position in a company that will hold and trade uranium in the
Canadian market.  We expect this company to start trading on the Toronto
exchange during May.

We remain optimistic that 2005 will be another year of good performance for the
mining companies. Base metal prices continue to trade well ahead of consensus
forecasts and, when combined with high prices for the bulk commodities, this
should provide for further earnings upgrades as the year matures. In the
meantime, we expect merger and acquisition activity to pick up further as
companies look to deploy excess cash.



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).

12 May 2005


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