BlackRock Announces Further Refinements To IShares Gold Trust

BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) today announced that the iShares Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) business, the world’s largest provider of ETFs, has made further refinements to the iShares Gold Trust (NYSEArca: IAU). These changes will make the Trust the first US-listed gold ETF to be fully allocated daily. In addition, the name of the Trust has been changed to the iShares Gold Trust to more clearly reflect that the Trust holds only physical bullion, not futures.

“We continue to make refinements to the iShares Gold Trust to meet growing demand for gold investing and to meet clients’ specific needs,” said Noel Archard, Head of US iShares Product at BlackRock. “The Trust’s new custodian, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., London branch, is providing daily 100% allocation of the gold bullion. We understand client concerns with exposure to unallocated gold and, as part of these refinements we've taken steps to minimize risks from unallocated gold exposure.”

Each business day, the trusts assets will be fully allocated, so that, at the end of such business day, no gold is held in unallocated form. The custodian will not allow issuances of shares on unallocated amounts.

These changes are part of the continuing refinements the firm has made to the Trust. In June 2010, the firm announced several changes to the iShares Gold Trust including: reducing the share price – and increasing the Trust’s shares outstanding – through a 10-for-1 share split, and lowering the Trust’s sponsor fee to 0.25% by leveraging BlackRock’s broader platform to drive greater operating efficiencies for the Trust.

About BlackRock

BlackRock is a leader in investment management, risk management and advisory services for institutional and retail clients worldwide. At June 30, 2010, BlackRock’s AUM was $3.15 trillion. BlackRock offers products that span the risk spectrum to meet clients’ needs, including active, enhanced and index strategies across markets and asset classes. Products are offered in a variety of structures including separate accounts, mutual funds, iShares ^® exchange traded funds, and other pooled investment vehicles. BlackRock also offers risk management, advisory and enterprise investment system services to a broad base of institutional investors through BlackRock Solutions ^®. Headquartered in New York City, as of March 31, 2010, the firm has approximately 8,500 employees in 24 countries and a major presence in key global markets, including North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East and Africa. For additional information, please visit the Company's website at www.blackrock.com.

About iShares

iShares is the global product leader in exchange traded funds with over 430 funds globally across equities, fixed income and commodities, which trade on 16 exchanges worldwide. The iShares Funds are bought and sold like common stocks on securities exchanges. The iShares Funds are attractive to many individual and institutional investors and financial intermediaries because of their relative low cost, tax efficiency and trading flexibility. Investors can purchase and sell shares through any brokerage firm, financial advisor, or online broker, and hold the funds in any type of brokerage account. The iShares customer base consists of the institutional segment of pension plans and fund managers, as well as the retail segment of financial advisors and high net worth individuals.

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