MHQ: Give our listeners an overview of the company and outline the key projects currently located in Australia and Chile.

MB: Austral Gold is a small-cap Australian exploration company. Our major project is in Chile, but we also have interests in Argentina and Australia. Our flagship project is the Guanaco Gold-Copper Project; a mine that was runned by Amax and then Kinross. It was shut in 1998. We have been exploring more and have found around a half a million ounces of gold in resources in-ground and another 200,000 ounces in leach pads. We are earning into a number of properties in Argentina. Those are much earlier stage exploration. We also have a gold exploration area near Kalgooly in Western Australia.

MHQ: Give us an insight on the current political climate within these regions as it pertains to drilling and exploration.

MB: Our operating process is politically stable and highly conducive to mining. Chile is the host to many of the world's largest copper mines. The ones that will be known to your listeners are: Escondido, Chuquicamata, El Teniente, and El Piñon, which is the major goldmine just to the north of Guanaco. So there is no doubt about Chile's credentials as a mining host country. Argentina is seeking to attract mining investment and mineral exploration. Mine development in Argentina has been made progressively more attractive to companies. Therefore, if we're successful in our exploration there we do not anticipate any difficulties in developing a mine. Australia, which is my home country, has been a mining nation for 150 years now. Western Australia, in particular, is highly dependent on mining. So, we do not have any concerns about the development of a major resource, should we find one there.

MHQ: On January 28, 2009, the company announced the reporting of progress during the September quarter. Can you give us an overview of that announcement?

MB: We continue to explore in particular at our Guanaco Gold-Copper Project in Chile. We ran two stages of drilling in 2008, both targeting extensions of known underground gold veins. We are currently working on the resource estimation that's a geostatistical calculation and we should have the results in the late March 2009 quarter. We expect to announce that in about two months time. We are continuing fieldwork in the West Australian exploration area and as I mentioned earlier, we are earning into a number of properties in Argentina. They are early stage and the major activity today has been the construction of an access road into a country with high altitude.

MHQ: Mr. Bethwaite, can you give us an overview of the current board and management team in place at Austral Gold Limited?

MB: The board is comprised of two industry veterans. Myself, as Chairman, I have nearly a 30-year background in the mining industry. I was the Chief Executive of two of Australia's largest mining companies for a total of 10 to 11 years. My colleague in Australia, Robert Trzebski, is a highly experienced geophysicist and has worked with all of the Australia majors such as BHP, CRA, and now Rio. He has also worked with a number of offshore majors. The other four members of the board: Eduardo Elsztain, Saul Zang, Pablo Vergara del Carril and Natalia Zang are all Argentinian Buenos Aires-based directors. That comes about because our major shareholder, the IFIS Group, is controlled by Mr. Elsztain. Mr. Elsztain is a highly successful Argentine businessman. He has interests in many industries and Austral Gold is his entry vehicle into the resource sector.

MHQ: Will the company look to joint ventures or mergers and acquisitions moving forward?

MB: We are joint venturing as we speak particularly in Argentina. The company's strengths are based on its flagship project in Chile and the industry experience that Robert Trzebski and I bring to the board. The strong Argentine connections and major positions in other industries mean that we get a lot of approaches from explorers and holders of ground and resources in South America. This is because Mr. Elsztain and his colleagues are so well known in South America. That has been the basis of the earn-in or joint venture arrangement that we have called Aminsa, the project I referred to earlier. Aminsa is where we are now contracting an access road to explore and drill for gold in the Argentine Andes.

MHQ: Where do you see Austral Gold Limited positioned in about a two to three year period?

MB: Our ambition is to bring our Guanaco Gold-Copper Project into production as a priority. That is our flagship project where we now have a half a million ounces of gold in resources in the ground, another 200,000 in leach pads and whatever came out of the drilling programs last year. Which as I mentioned earlier, is currently being calculated geostatistically. We see the early development of Guanaco as providing a cash flow base from which we can explore more deeply and more broadly on the Guanaco leases in Chile. We also see it providing us to become a highly regarded and well-positioned joint venture partner for just the sort of activities that we are now engaged in with Aminsa.

MHQ: In conclusion, why should then an investor look to consider the company as a long-term investment opportunity?

MB: We are a small-cap gold exploration company. We will live or die on our exploration's success, both at Guanaco and at other properties. I believe the company is an attractive investment because it has significant gold resources, about 700,000 ounces in total presently at Guanaco. I believe that we have the makings of a profitable mine in that location that has yet to be tested with a feasibility study. But that is our objective, to develop Guanaco into a small but profitable mine. The board is highly credentialed in terms of mining industry experience, in terms of its financial acumen, firepower and its high reputation in South America. That is where the company is focused and I think it is a very interesting company for people who wish to invest in early-stage exploration in South America.