What the future holds for BlackRock World Mining

BlackRock World Mining achieved an impressive return of just over 74% in both net asset value (NAV) and share price terms in 2025, surpassing a strong return of over 64% from its reference index (MSCI ACWI Metals & Mining 30% Buffer 10/40).

Gold and precious metals were front and centre in 2025 owing to factors such as central bank buying and concerns regarding US debt, trade and foreign policy, and BlackRock World Mining Trust Ord (LSE:BRWM) did benefit from substantial exposure to gold and gold miners. That weighting had increased in early 2024.

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However, strong gains in the second half of 2025 also came from exposure to a raft of metals and resources, such as copper miners (an overweight position for the trust), while weaker areas such as iron ore detracted a little.

The numbers in detail

Net Asset Value (NAV) Return: +74.2%
Share Price Return: +74.1%
Benchmark Return (MSCI ACWI Metals & Mining): +64.2%
Premium/Discount: -6.1% (vs -5.8% in prior year)
Dividend: 24p (vs 23p in prior year)
Gearing: 4.7% (vs 12% in prior year)

Outlook

Short of an eruption of the risks posed from geopolitical turmoil, slower Chinese economic growth and excessive artificial intelligence (AI) spend, the trust’s portfolio managers Evy Hambro and Olivia Markham expect the same drivers of strong fundamentals and returns in 2025 to continue into the near future, noting that commodity markets in particular look set to benefit from an excess of demand outgrowing supply.

Portfolio

BRWM’s portfolio invests globally in mining and metals assets.

While focused on listed securities, the managers have flexibility to invest in physical metals, unlisted assets, fixed-income securities and royalties from production operations.

Precious metals exposure is substantial, with gold representing around 40% of the portfolio. There’s also exposure to silver, platinum and other resources such as base metals.

This includes copper (17.1%), aluminium (2%), steel (5.5%), iron ore (1.2%) and uranium (1%).

BRWM has a long-held conviction in copper – which is key to electrification, semiconductors and other themes - and has exposure via Lundin, Ivanhoe Mines Ltd Class A (TSE:IVN) and Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde (to name just a few).

Unquoted investments accounted for just 4% of the portfolio at year end, after the BHP Brazil royalty contract – a royalty since 2014 over gold and copper (and other metals) from certain mines – was disposed of for a profit.

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Other unlisted assets in the portfolio are Jetti Resources – a private mining tech company producing catalysts for copper mining and MCC Mining – exploring for copper opportunities in Colombia.

Dividend

Following three quarterly dividends of 5.5p per share and a final proposed payment of 7.5p brings the total dividend to 24p for 2025 (an increase of 4.3% on 2024).

Encouragingly given the strength in fundamentals described by the managers, this is fully covered by income in the year.

While dividends received were driven higher from a number of mining stocks, this made for a backward-looking yield of 3% throughout 2025 – understandably lower than previous levels given the huge capital appreciation achieved.

Gearing

Overall, gearing fell from a level of 12% at the end of the prior year to 4.7% at the end of 2025 as sale proceeds in the year, as well as funding new investments, were used to pay down debt obligations.

Discount

The discount moved from 5.8% to close the year at 6.1% - making for marginal difference in NAV and price returns given the quantum of returns throughout 2025.

There was, however, a not insignificant amount of discount volatility, reaching a depth of 14% in the first half of the year and even moving to a small and brief premium for a day in the second half.

The board employed buybacks throughout 2025 and in the months since, although the discount has widened to a current level of around 4% in spite of positive year-to-date performance.

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Amid geopolitical volatility, precious metals prices in particular have been driven higher by immense interest from central banks, institutional and retail investor inflows and even structural new demand in the market – an example being stablecoin issuer, Tether, which the managers of BRWM highlight as owning 116 tonnes of gold.

What’s more, miners have been a fantastic recent allocation for investors in the past year – even more in some instances than the underlying metals.

For example, the FTSE Gold Miners index in 2025 returned over 156% compared to near 56% return for LBMA Gold (both in sterling terms) – having conspicuously lagged returns of their underlying in the prior years.

BRWM is well positioned in this regard, insomuch as it can allocate both to the miners as well as up to 10% of gross assets in physical metals. The healthy receipt of an elevated nominal amount of dividends to BRWM reflects the strength in fundamentals that higher prices have afforded these companies.

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Given an extreme run of success, it’s worth acknowledging the risks present for the sector.

Gold, and by extent its miners (as well as certain other real assets), have to a degree benefited from the sweeping “de-dollarisation trade” prevailing in the wake of stark geopolitical and trade developments spilling from the US.

A reversal of this trade could see a change in these fortunes – as was felt in the sharp January 2026 sell-off.

Additionally, low oil prices – given the fuel’s usage in extraction and transport operations – have until recently supported miners’ profitability.

Clearly now many economies face the threat of prolonged increases in oil and gas prices emanating from the turmoil in the Strait of Hormuz, which could put pressure on bottom lines of businesses in such industries.

But as the managers reiterate, the core drivers behind the strength in the mining sector appear to remain intact for now and such bull markets have in the past proven able to persist over extended periods.

A key strength of the trust is the diversity of its exposures and the ability of the managers to pivot between metals and mining subsectors, as well as to ramp up or dial back gearing in response to prevailing conditions.

The broad and flexible remit means the trust can capture themes such as the growing demand for metals and materials key to the growth of themes such as AI, energy infrastructure, electrification and defence via the companies at the very origin of these supply chains.

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BRWM can further diversify using the tools of the investment trust structure to access private companies or even royalties which, as was the case with BHP Brazil, can prove profitable.

While thematic allocations bring inherent cyclical and macro-driven risks, BRWM offers a well-diversified approach to the metals and miners sector with exposures spanning precious and bulk metals, complemented by smaller positions in energy and specialist materials.

Over time, the managers have demonstrated an ability to dynamically allocate across commodities, sub-sectors and securities, with the long-standing leadership of Evy Hambro, alongside Olivia Markham underpinning a track record of outperformance relative to both peers and benchmark.