Ashburton Minerals Ltd ( Ashburton or the Company ) QUARTERLY ACTIVITIES REPORT Q3, for the period ending 31 March 2011

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1 29 April 2011 Company Announcements Office Australian Securities Exchange Limited 20 Bridge Street SYDNEY NSW 2000 L1, 254 Railway Parade West Leederville Western Australia 6007 PO Box 1423 West Leederville Western Australia 6901 T: F: E: info@ashmin.com.au HIGHLIGHTS Ashburton Minerals Ltd ( Ashburton or the Company ) QUARTERLY ACTIVITIES REPORT Q3, for the period ending 31 March 2011 by electronic lodgement Obi Gold Project: High-grade historical drilling results from area of artisanal workings include g/t, in hole AOD 09, from 38.0 m g/t, in hole AOD 10, from 39.4 m g/t, in hole AOD 07, from 78.6 m Drilling contract signed, drill pads prepared, diamond drilling rig en route to site. Spring Valley: Anomalous EM conductor identified; potential drill target for sulphide mineralisation. Corporate: 120,055,436 Entitlements Issue Shares at 2 cents each (82% of available shares) issued to shareholders, raising $2,401, ,881,573 Shortfall shares were placed to sophisticated and institutional investors raising $437,631. Subsequent to Quarter end, the final 4,075,000 Shortfall shares issued to director pursuant to Resolution at general meeting, raising $81,500. Subsequent to Quarter end, 4,712,500 options exercised at 4 cents each, raising $188,500. Cash at end of Quarter: $3.67 million. Ashburton Minerals Ltd is an Australian based resources company primarily focused on exploration and development of quality projects that are extensively mineralised and are deemed by the Company to be prospective for large economic deposits that could generate long-term returns to shareholders. The Company s primary focus is the exciting Obi Gold Project in Indonesia.

2 EXPLORATION OBI GOLD PROJECT, INDONESIA In early March 2011 the Company was advised by its Indonesian partner, PT Eka Samudra Nusantsara ( PT Eka ) that PT Eka had executed a drilling contract with drilling services provider PT Indo Asia Resources ( IAR ), thus securing a drilling rig to undertake the Company s proposed 4,000 m diamond drilling programme at Obi. Under the terms of the agreement with PT Eka, Ashburton will provide funding for PT Eka to be used to carry out exploration activities within the PT Eka tenement at Ashburton s direction. IAR is an Indonesian drilling company, based in Jakarta and Balikpapan, operating 14 drilling rigs, including several rigs currently drilling at Weda Bay on Halmahera Island to the north of Obi Island. IAR is owned and operated by an Australian expatriate with extensive experience in the drilling industry, both in Australia and indonesia. The company was chosen due to its existing operational presence close to Obi and experience in remote environments. On 9 March 2011 the Company made the second payment of US$500,000 to PT Eka as per the terms of the Option Agreement under which the Company can acquire a majority interest in the Obi Gold Project in Indonesia. A third, and final, payment of US$500,000 is to be made by the Company by 10 June Processing Equipment The Company s Managing Director, Mr Tom Dukovcic, travelled to mainland China with the principal of PT Eka to the Xiamen area in southern China to inspect several facilities specialising in the manufacture of gravity processing equipment. The trip confirmed the availability of equipment of good build quality and industry standard design, including crushers, ball mills, spiral concentrators, flotation tanks, and shaking tables. Investigations are continuing into the final configuration of the processing route to be adopted at Obi as an alternative to the mercury amalgamation process currently used to treat artisanal gold ore from the Small Scale Mining Area. Historical Exploration Data As reported to the market in the initial announcement on the Obi Gold Project on 18 November 2010, there was local knowledge of prior exploration carried out at Obi in the mid-1990s, specifically including 10 diamond drill holes. The Company has been investigating the source of this work and recently managed to obtain a significant portion of this data. The work was conducted by PT Obi Minerals, a BHP subsidiary owned 80% by BHP Minerals Sulawesi Inc and 20% by PT Aneka Tambang (Persero) Tbk ( BHP ). BHP carried out work across most of Obi Island, including the area now the site of artisanal gold mining and the subject of the Company s present exploration focus, namely, the Obi Gold Project. The BHP work was conducted in the period November 1995 to August 1996, and included rock chip sampling, stream sediment sampling, soil sampling, trenching and drilling. According to local villagers, some of whom were employed as field assistants, there were no artisanal gold workings in the area at the time of this work.

3 The culmination of the work completed by BHP was a 10-hole diamond drilling programme, of which 5 holes were drilled in the vicinity of the current artisanal workings, at what is now known as Ambon. High-grade gold intercepts included g/t, in hole AOD 09, from 38.0 m g/t, in hole AOD 10, from 39.4 m g/t, in hole AOD 07, from 78.6 m Gold mineralisation is reported as being associated with sulphides contained in quartz veins and quartz breccia, contained in sedimentary rocks and Miocene andesite (translated from Indonesian). The Company has been unable to accurately confirm the location of these holes, there being some discrepancies in hole coordinates and, more importantly, azimuth. Further, geological drill logs are not available thus precluding a detailed understanding of the geology and the distribution of the gold within the reported intercepts for example, whether related to massive veins or a series of narrow veins. However, the fact that sampling was carried out to a 0.1 m precision suggests a good degree of geological control and therefore gives confidence in the relevance of reported intervals. Hole collars have been located in the field and it is evident that in a number of cases the holes are located away from the main focus of current artisanal diggings and on some occasions have been orientated away from the zone of main workings. The holes were targeted on the basis of the results of soil sampling and trenching programmes, and without the benefit of active artisanal workings to point the way. The Contract of Work Termination Report, dated Jakarta, November 1998, is in Indonesian and has been submitted for translation. The data acquired does not include all the items specified in the contents section, critically, the drill hole geological logs, and the location and assay data for the trenching. Attempts are continuing to locate additional information through other sources. Analysis and verification of this historical information will continue. Although incomplete, the data to hand confirms the presence of extensive gold mineralisation within the Company s project area, notably including high-grade intercepts, thus confirming the excellent prospectivity of the Obi Gold Project to host a significant economic gold deposit. Some summary data is presented in the figures appended to this report. From these figures, it is clear that Ashburton s proposed drilling will far more comprehensively test the main zone of artisanal workings, covering a zone some 700 m in strike and 200 m in width. The drilling contractor has advised of a further delay, with drilling now expected to commence on or about 7 th May The Company s managing director, Tom Dukovcic, will be travelling to site to oversee the commencement of the drilling programme. SPRING VALLEY PB-ZN, NSW A surface combined In-loop and Slingram EM geophysical survey was completed in March 2011 with preliminary results indicating the presence of a distinct conductor, interpreted as being around 250 m below surface and possibly representing a buried zone of sulphide mineralisation. Once final results have been interpreted a decision will be made on whether this body might be large enough to potentially warrant drill testing.

4 YEA GOLD PROJECT, VICTORIA A diamond drilling project into the Whittaker lode along The Triangles line of reef was terminated early after the completion of two holes. Both holes intersected only narrow, stringer-type quartzsulphide mineralisation at, or close to, the expected target position under the line of old workings, returning a best gold intercept of only g/t. On the basis of these results the company decided not to proceed with the option and the project has been terminated. CORPORATE The Company s non-renounceable 1 for 4 Entitlements Issue closed on 21 January 2011 with a strong uptake by shareholders of some 82% of available shares, comprising primary entitlements of 98,784,223 shares and 21,271,213 additional shares, resulting in the issue of a total of 120,055,436 New Shares at an issue price of 2 cents each, raising $2,401, Of the resulting Shortfall of 25,956,573 shares, 21,881,573 shares were successfully placed by the Company s supporting broker Foster Stockbroking to their sophisticated and institutional clients, raising $437,631 before costs. The final 4,075,000 shares at 2 cents each from the Shortfall were reserved for non-executive Director Peter Bradford. Mr Bradford participated to his full extent in the Entitlements Issue and expressed a desire to apply for additional shares. On 21 March 2011 a General Meeting of shareholders was called for 19 April 2011 to consider three resolutions, namely: 1. To allow director Peter Bradford to take up 4,075,000 shares from the Shortfall to the Entitlements Issue at the same price as the Entitlements Issue, being 2 cents per share. 2. To issue to managing director Tom Dukovcic three lots of 5 million options exercisable at 125%, 150% and 175%, respectively, of the volume weighted average price ( VWAP ) on the 5 trading days prior to the General Meeting. 3. To approve a replacement Employee Share Option Plan under which the Company could issue options to employees without eating into its capacity under the 15% rule. Subsequent to Quarter end, on 19 April 2011 all three resolutions were passed by shareholders. The issue to Mr Peter Bradford of 4,075,000 of the Shortfall shares raised $80,150 and meant that all of the 146,012,009 available shares at 2 cents per share under the Entitlement Issue were successfully allotted, raising a total of $2.92 million. Based on the applicable VWAP of 5.8 cents, the options issued to Mr Tom Dukovcic comprised 5 million options exercisable at 7.25 c by 21 April million options exercisable at 8.7 c by 21 April million options exercisable at c by 21 April Also subsequent to Quarter end, due to the strong performance of the Company s shares, peaking at a close of 7.0 cents on 21 April 2011, there were 4,712,500 options exercised at 4 cents each, raising a further $188,500. As at the end of the Quarter, on 31 March 2011, the Company held $3.67 million in cash.

5 Finally, early in the Quarter, the Company moved office, and registered address, and now has the following new contact details: Level 1, 254 Railway Parade, West Leederville WA 6007; PO Box 1245, West Leederville WA 6901; Telephone: ; Facsimile: ; info@ashmin.com.au Yours faithfully, Tom Dukovcic Managing Director Four figures follow For further information, please contact: Ashburton Minerals Ltd Tel: Fax: info@ashmin.com.au or visit our website: and join our e-list. The information contained in this report that relates to Exploration Results or Mineral Resources is based on information compiled by Mr Tom Dukovcic who is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists. Mr Dukovcic is a full-time employee of the Company and has sufficient experience to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2004 edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves. Mr Dukovcic consents to the inclusion in this report of information compiled by him in the form and context in which it appears. Figure 1. Location of Obi Gold Project showing position of Ambon artisanal goldfield and continuity of mineralised trend.

6 Figure 2. Ambon artisanal goldfield, as it is today, showing gold workings on hillside, and mining village encircling base of Ambon Hill.

7 Figure 3. Plan showing results of work completed by PT Obi Minerals (BHP) in , including gold-in-soil contours and diamond drilling results. Note: at the time of the BHP work, there were reportedly no artisanal workings in the area, thus showing an interesting coincidence between soil gold maxima and concentration of subsequent workings. Position of hole AOD 08 uncertain.

8 Figure 4. Proposed Ashburton diamond drilling at Ambon, planned so as to cover a 700 m x 200 m corridor of main workings. Note: Ashburton holes were planned prior to knowledge of BHP soil results or locations of old drill holes.