BRIGHTSTAR RESOURCES LIMITED — Capital/Financing Update 2005

Mar 8, 2005

ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE AUSTRALIAN STOCK EXCHANGE

WEDNESDAY 9 MARCH 2005

A1 MAKES PLACEMENT TO ENCOURAGE SHAREHOLDER SPREAD

For some time the Directors of A1 Minerals Limited (A1) have been concerned to encourage a wider shareholder spread and greater stockbroker interest in the Company. The Directors are now pleased to announce the placement today of 4,482,758 fully paid ordinary shares (which will comprise approximately 10% of the company's issued capital) to selected sophisticated and professional investors. The placement has been managed by Tolhurst Noall in Melbourne, with a number of other stockbrokers also participating.

Following recently announced exploration success, these funds will be put to work immediately in drilling programs to continue the development and extension of the promising BrightStar Gold discovery.

The following information is provided pursuant to ASX listing rule 3.10.3

• The securities to be issued pursuant to the placement will rank equally in all respects with those shares already on issue;
• The issue price is 29 cents;
• The purpose of the issue is to encourage wider shareholder spread and to fund an active 2005 exploration program;
• A1 Minerals is not required to seek and will not be seeking shareholder approval in relation to this proposed issue:
• The issue is not being made to a specific class of security holders. $\bullet$

A1 will be applying to the ASX for guotation of the above securities once allotment and issue details have been finalised. This is anticipated to occur within the next few days.

Following listing and quotation of these 'placement shares' A1 will have a total of 45,818,649 shares on issue of which only 30,679,304 are currently tradeable.

For recent announcements and further information please refer to our web site www.a1minerals.com.au.

On behalf of A1 Minerals Limited

Mark Pitts Company Secretary

COMPANY OVERVIEW

A1 Minerals Limited controls the largest tenement holding in the highly prospective Laverton District of Western Australia. The BrightStar Gold Project is a new gold discovery by A1 Minerals and is located on the eastern margin of the Laverton Tectonic Zone, a zone that has produced nearly 9 million punces of gold to 2002 from a resource base of nearly 25 million ounces.

THE BRIGHTSTAR GOLD PROJECT INDICATES

• V MULTI-MILLION OUNCE POTENTIAL
• $\checkmark$ LOW CAPEX REQUIRED
• $\times$ LOW COST OF PRODUCTION
• $\times$ TOLL TREATING OPTION
• √ EXCELLENT METALLURGY with above 98% recoveries expected

DURING 2004 A1 ACHIEVED THE FOLLOWING

• $\checkmark$ EXTENDED THE BRIGHTSTAR DISCOVERY ZONE TO 2 KILOMETRES
• √ ACHIEVED EXCELLENT WIDTHS AND GOLD GRADES FROM SURFACE TO 200+METRES DEPTH
• $\checkmark$ INDICATED PROFITABLE OPEN PIT MINEABILITY
• √ NEW LODES AND EXTENSIONS are continually being discovered;
• ✓ MINERALIZATION REMAINS OPEN along strike in both directions and open at depth
• ✓ CONSOLIDATED LARGEST GROUND HOLDING ON GREENSTONE BELT
• V NATIVE TITLE AGREEMENT
• $\checkmark$ MINING LEASE GRANTED AT BRIGHTSTAR

DURING 2005, A1 INTENDS TO

• $\checkmark$ CONTINUE DRILLING TO EXTEND THE BDZ
• ✓ GENERATE FIRST RESOURCES STATEMENT WITH A VIEW TO MINE 2006
• √ DRILL NARNOO (large 1000 square kilometre exploration project on the same greenstone belt as BrightStar. The project hosts 6 gold prospects with many kilometres of gold mineralisation)

A1's RELATIVELY TIGHT CAPITAL STRUCTURE PROVIDES SHAREHOLDERS WITH LEVERAGE ON EXPLORATION SUCCESS

45 MILLION ORDINARY FULLY PAID SHARES (30 MILLION TRADABLE AND 15 MILLION ESCROWED TO DECEMBER 2005) CURRENT MARKET CAPITALISATION APPROXIMATELY \$15M