Chairman's Address

Good Afternoon. Welcome to the Annual General Meeting of PlatSearch NL.

In thinking about preparing this address to you today, I decided to address the big questions that are of concern to shareholders. Is the PlatSearch strategy valid? Should we change the strategy? What is the probability that we will participate in a worthwhile success sometime soon? Are our people really as good as we think they are? Can we continue to fund the Company the way we have been? Are we looking in the right places? Is our portfolio of exploration properties a quality portfolio? Do we have sufficient exposure to success?

I decided that I would attempt to answer these questions which are just as important for us as the Board and management as they are for you as our shareholders.

Is the Strategy Valid?

PlatSearch is a project generation company. It seeks to use the skills and experience of its technical team, particularly those of Bob Richardson, but also those of the other members of our team, to identify promising exploration opportunities. We always (so far at least) then seek to use other people’s money to fund the high risk drill testing phase of exploration.

Over the past nine years we have entered into 48 joint ventures, and been able to average $1.6 million of other companies’ money being spent on our projects for an average net spend of our shareholder’s money of $250,000 pa.

We think that the strategy is valid. Grassroots exploration is a long odds game, requiring perhaps 100 or more targets to be tested before success can be realised. In our view, keeping the capital structure tight, costs tightly under control, and maximising the spend of others on our property is the best way, in the long run, to ensure that PlatSearch shareholders participate fully in the rewards of success.

The other essential ingredient in mineral exploration is luck. Hopefully we will get lucky very soon.

 What, if Anything, is Wrong With the Strategy?

Ask Bob, and he will tell you that the while the strategy is basically sound, there are three significant issues that we have to deal with.

We have also noticed that some companies expect to secure ore grade results with the first hole, whereas any experienced explorer understands that the first hole usually can only confirm that we are testing the right environment. It is usually necessary to drill at least a further three or four holes to establish vectors that can lead the drilling programme towards the mineralised zones. This explains why PlatSearch has numerous good quality targets that remain not fully tested and require further drilling.

Ideally, PlatSearch would raise sufficient funds to test its own targets using its own technical capabilities. However, unless this can be done at prices substantially in excess of the levels that have prevailed in recent years, raising such high risk funds is very dilutive for existing shareholders.

We are open to other approaches. An example is the recent IPO of Western Plains Gold NL. PlatSearch worked with Bob Duffin and Gary Jones, two very capable and experienced geoscientists who share Bob’s Geopeko background, to establish Western Plains Gold using projects largely identified by PlatSearch. Some of these properties were vended into WPG. Others were the subject of joint ventures with WPG. Already, initial results are confirming the merit of this approach.

 Should We Change the Strategy?

Given the challenges described above, PlatSearch is interested in varying its approach as illustrated by the WPG example above. Certainly, if we had a situation where our share price reached 50c or $1 based on a discovery or other favourable development, we have indicated in past years that we would take the opportunity to raise meaningful funds, say of the order of $5 million, to advance exploration on our tenements ourselves, and retain 100% ownership.

Over the past 18 years some 51 targets generated by PlatSearch have been tested by core or percussion drilling. Of these, half have been discarded as being unlikely to yield a worthwhile discovery. However, another 26 targets have shown encouraging results, are not fully tested, and have considerable remaining potential.

Grassroots exploration is a long odds game. Some observers consider 100 to 1 risk profile as being at the lowish end of the odds spectrum. If so, that says that companies like PlatSearch must participate in at least 100 tests if we are to make a serious discovery (actually the statistical concept of Gamblers’ Ruin says that to achieve a 90% chance of success in a 100 to 1 game, considerably more than 100 tests must by undertaken). All we can really say here is that if we keep at it, sooner or later we will have a success that will amply reward shareholders and the Board and management team for their persistence and patience over the years.

Over the years, PlatSearch has gained a reputation for being a competent and honest group of people. Bob Richardson is respected throughout the industry as being one of the very best geophysicists in the industry, but also being a very capable explorationist as well. Bob has more than kept up to date with the rapid advances in computer exploration technology over the years, and the development of new exploration techniques. A recent example is PlatSearch’s adoption of a new "space-age" geochemical technique that is forming the basis of the recent exploration Joint Venture with CBH Resources in the Broken Hill district.

 Can We Continue to Fund the Company the Way We Have Been?

PlatSearch has enjoyed the support of loyal shareholders for many years now, and while the Company has never held more than a few hundred thousand dollars in the kitty, we have always (so far at least) been able to replenish it either by an SPP, rights issue or placements. Similarly, although, as described above, there have been certain challenges with sourcing funds through joint venture partners, the fact is that PlatSearch has continued to be able to source such funds, even through very difficult times such as those that prevailed two or three years ago.

PlatSearch, as indicated in the foregoing, is very willing to explore new ways of sourcing funds, provided that these are legal, ethical, and in the interests of the Company’s shareholders.

PlatSearch tends to specialise in exploring the eastern half of Australia where prospectivity is high, the tenement systems are effective, and where data availability is outstanding, thanks in part to the sterling efforts of the various State governments over the past 10 years or more.

The areas PlatSearch is exploring have hosted some of the largest ore deposits ever discovered and the potential for further discoveries is widely acknowledged to be very good.

Any objective review of the PlatSearch portfolio must conclude that the Company has built up a very strong portfolio of properties. For example, a subset of that portfolio, vended into WPG, has formed the cornerstone for a successful IPO. Also, the willingness of other companies to farm-in to our areas is a measure of how well they are regarded.

I guess that is a decision for every individual shareholder. For my part, and I am sure for Rob and Bob, the answer to that question is emphatically yes. I am certainly not going to be selling my shares any time soon.

I hope that in addressing these questions in what I trust you will agree has been a forthright manner, that I have convinced you that we at PlatSearch are not afraid to ask the hard questions. My conclusion is that we have been, and continue to be, on the right track, and we have no option but to stick to the course and hope that a little luck comes our way soon.

In closing, I would like to extend my appreciation to Bob, Rob and the management team. I would also especially like to extend my appreciation to you, our loyal shareholders for your support over the years. I can assure you that we are working hard to deliver outstanding exploration success that will make it all worthwhile, and hopefully soon.

That concludes my remarks.

Chairman

 Managing Director’s Address

Progress through 2004-2005 has been slower than anticipated due to two main causes:

1. A critical shortage of suitable drilling contractors and drilling equipment that has delayed the activities of most of our joint venture partners. This is an industry-wide problem that has curtailed the efforts of many explorers.
    

2. The share market slump in April-May 2005 delayed the planned fundraising and listing of Western Plains Gold Ltd (WPG), a company sponsored by PlatSearch and committed to complete substantial work including drilling on some of PlatSearch’s tenements.

Both of these problems have been outside the control of PlatSearch. Their combined effect has been to delay planned drilling schedules, on some projects up to 12 months, not to mention the PlatSearch share price which has reached lows not seen since 2001.

These problems are being solved with the successful raising of $2.8m and listing on the ASX by WPG in August, and recently by the securing of drill contractors for a number of prospects. PlatSearch holds a 25% interest in WPG and any discoveries on WPG tenements will benefit PlatSearch through its shareholding as well as its joint venture interests in the Euriowie, Mulyungarie and Kalabity projects.

1. Immediately after listing in August, WPG succeeded in obtaining a RAB drill contractor for essential geochemical sampling at many of its prospects and completed an intensive programme of 629 RAB holes on five prospects. This work confirmed and defined the presence of several strong and coherent geochemical anomalies that will be the target of planned RC percussion drilling scheduled to commence in early December. There will be 15 inclined RC holes completed on the Fairy Hill and Yalcowinna Creek prospects in this programme.

2. At WPG’s Trundle project, in which PlatSearch has a 2% NSR royalty, RAB geochemistry at the Mordialloc prospect has defined a strong copper anomaly extending over a 500 metre strike length and open in several directions. Further RAB drilling is planned to extend and map out the anomaly, prior to RC drilling.

3. Drilling has commenced on the WPG project at Lake Cargelligo. Two inclined core holes are planned to test a zone of intense shearing and pyrite alteration with anomalous soil geochemistry at the Achilles 1 prospect.

4. WPG recently signed a joint venture agreement to farm-in to PlatSearch’s Kalabity tenement in South Australia and will explore it for uranium, copper and gold. An intensive field programme that will collect over 1,300 calcrete samples across the tenement area has commenced.

5. The Benagerie Joint Venture was signed with Newcrest Mining on two tenements in the northern Curnamona Craton. Newcrest will explore for iron-oxide associated copper-gold deposits and plans to drill test a number of targets defined by aeromagnetic and ground magnetic data and detailed gravity data collected recently by Newcrest.

6. Joint venturer Tri Origin commenced a 1,000 metre air-core and RC percussion drill programme at the Woodlawn South project in the Lachlan Fold Belt in mid-November. Tri Origin is earning an 80% interest in the Woodlawn South tenement.

7. PlatSearch recognised a unique opportunity to apply cutting edge geochemical technology to parts of the Broken Hill field. The technology utilises a portable XRF analyser to provide a rapid in-field analysis for most metals in soils, with acceptable accuracy, in a 60 second measurement. This means that large areas can be rapidly soil-sampled with a close sample spacing. A joint venture has been signed with CBH Resources to utilise this approach. CBH and PlatSearch tenements have been combined in the joint venture creating a 500 square kilometre ground package covering a substantial portion of the Broken Hill Block. Large parts of these tenements have no previous geochemical coverage. CBH will fund a Stage One programme that PlatSearch will operate, with field work commencing in the coming week.

As these programmes gather momentum and the drill shortage situation improves we are confident of some interesting results. The slides accompanying this report provide further information about our more important projects.