VENTANA ANNOUNCES DRILL RESULTS – 34 METRES OF 7.4 GRAMS PER TONNE GOLD – AND ADDS FOUR DRILL RIGS

Vancouver, B.C., October 15, 2009 – Ventana Gold Corp. (TSX: VEN) (“Ventana” or “the Company”) announces drill results from an additional three in-fill holes at the La Mascota zone on the La Bodega gold project in Colombia. Holes 138, 141 and 142 are located in the same section 1129475E as the previously reported hole 143. The Company has also added four drill rigs for a total of nine.

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. True width of intercepts in hole 142 are about 60% of reported drilled width, 141 about 70% and 138 about 90%.

The plan view in figure 1 shows the location of this section in the southwest portion of La Mascota. Three parallel zones of mineralization that dip at an average of 70° have been intercepted and the middle zone appears to have continuity down dip for an extent of 200 metres. All three zones are still open along dip in both directions.

The La Mascota zone has been defined along a strike length of 800 metres to date, which represents an area covering about 40% of Ventana’s land position along this mineralized trend. Extension drilling is currently active 450 metres to the southwest of section 1129475E and could extend the deposit strike length by another 350 metres. Four drills are doing infill drilling within the defined 800 metres of strike to allow calculation of an NI 43-101 compliant resource for this portion of the deposit.

Ventana is also increasing its exploration rate within the La Bodega project. The four additional drill rigs will do both infill and extension drilling at La Mascota, along with activation of exploration on the parallel Las Mercedes zone.

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.

Click here for figure 1

Mineralization at the La Bodega project 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.

A drill hole location map and a complete listing of drill intercepts reported to date are available at http://www.ventanagold.com/.

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 (NI 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 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 project 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.