VENTANA ANNOUNCES ADDITIONAL LA MASCOTA DRILL RESULTS
- 84 METRES OF 13.66 GRAMS PER TONNE GOLD

Vancouver, B.C., October 5, 2009 – Ventana Gold Corp. (TSX: VEN) (“Ventana” or “the Company”) is pleased to provide drill results from drill hole 143 within the La Mascota zone at the La Bodega gold project in Colombia.

Hole 143 was drilled at an angle of 88° and intercepted 84 metres averaging 13.66 grams per tonne gold starting at a depth of 239 metres. When adjusted for true width, this intercept is about 42 metres wide and represents the highest value true width intercept to date. Select intervals are listed in the following table.

Drill intercepts are based on a 0.5 gram/tonne gold cut-off with no upper cut. Drill intercept lengths are down-hole lengths reflecting apparent widths of mineralization with true widths at about 50% of the reported down-hole length.

Ventana President and CEO Steve Orr said these drill results, along with other holes in the immediate vicinity, indicate that the southwestern portion of the structure is proving to be the most strongly mineralized area in terms of grade and thickness. “Hole 143 is one of the most significant drill intercepts to date and confirms the continuity of mineralization within the La Mascota zone. We are confident this will significantly improve the overall grade and size of the deposit.”

Ventana has now drilled up to hole 151 and assays are pending on 18 holes. During the month of September, there were five active exploration drills and a combined total of 3,100 metres were drilled at La Mascota.

The 2009 drill program is part of Ventana's ongoing gold exploration program in the California-Vetas gold mining district of northeast Colombia. Ventana's current exploration activities are concentrated on the high-grade La Mascota zone within the La Bodega project. Recent property acquisitions have added 1,300 metres of potential strike length to extend this zone to the southwest and consolidate a land position that now totals 4,573 hectares. In conjunction with in-fill drilling, Ventana is also conducting step-out drilling following the strike extension to the southwest. The latest active drill hole is about 450 metres southwest of hole 143.

Mineralization at La Bodega occurs as a series of north-northwest-dipping parallel-sheeted vein zones, breccias and mineralized faults hosted within a broad, northeast trending regional fault zone.

Review by Qualified Person, Quality Control and Reports
The results of Ventana’s drilling program have been reviewed, verified and compiled by Jon Lehmann, L.P.G., a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Lehmann has over 25 years of mineral exploration experience, is a Licensed Professional Geologist in the State of Washington and a member in good standing of the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.

To ensure reliable sample results Ventana has a rigorous QA/QC program in place that monitors the chain-of-custody of samples and includes the insertion of blanks, duplicates, and certified reference standards in each batch of samples. Core is photographed and sawed in half with one half retained in a secured facility for verification purposes. Sample preparation (crushing and pulverizing) is performed at an independent local laboratory established by a joint effort between the regional environmental permitting agency (“CDMB”) and the German Geological Survey, and at the Colombian preparation laboratory of ACME Analytical Laboratories. Prepared samples are direct-shipped to ACME Analytical Laboratories in Vancouver, B.C., an ISO 9001:2000 certified laboratory, for analysis. Pulp splits of mineralized intervals are re-assayed at an independent referee laboratory, Inspectorate America Corp. in Reno, Nevada.

Independent NI 43-101 technical reports have been prepared by EurGeol Miller O’Prey, P.Geo., for the La Bodega project and the nearby California-Vetas project to provide an updated review of the exploration activities that have occurred on the projects. These reports, dated June 14, 2008, are posted on Ventana’s website at http://www.ventanagold.com/.

About Ventana
Ventana is a Vancouver-based mineral exploration and development company with mineral rights to 4,573 hectares of exploration property in northeastern Colombia. Ventana is currently drilling at the La Bodega property with a focus on expanding the high-grade La Mascota zone. The Company’s shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol VEN.

For additional information please visit http://www.ventanagold.com/or contact:
Meghan Brown, Investor Relations Manager
tel (604) 638 2002
email mbrown@ventanagold.com

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-looking Information
Certain of the statements made and information contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. All information and statements which are not historical fact constitute forward-looking information and, in many cases, can be identified by words such as "may", "will", "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "potential", or other similar terminology. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is based on the reasonable expectations and beliefs of management as at the date of this press release and involves numerous assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties, both general and specific to Ventana and the industry in which the Company operates. Such assumptions, risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to future prices of gold, the factual results of current exploration, development and mining activities, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be evaluated as well as those factors disclosed in Ventana’s documents filed from time to time with the securities regulators in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results, performance or achievements of the Company, or industry results, may vary materially from those described in this press release. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Except as otherwise required by law, Ventana does not intend to and assumes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, plans, events or otherwise.