Purchase of Own Securities

Merrill Lynch World Mining Tst PLC
16 January 2002

                            PURCHASE OF OWN SHARES

1) Date of the purchase:

15 January 2002

2) Number of Ordinary Shares purchased:

200,000

3) Highest and lowest price paid per share (excluding expenses):

104p

4) The issued share capital of the Company following this buy-back will be:

Ordinary shares - 163,545,461

5) Name of contact for queries:

Miss K Rucht
020 7743 5466

6) Name of authorised Company official responsible for this notification:

Miss K Rucht
for Merrill Lynch Investment Managers Group Services Limited
Secretary

7) Date of notification:

15 January 2002