VENTANA ANNOUNCES NEW LA BODEGA DRILL RESULTS

– 12.75 METRES OF 34.62 GRAMS PER TONNE GOLD –

Vancouver, B.C., February 5, 2009 – Ventana Gold Corp. (TSX: VEN) (“Ventana” or “the Company”) is pleased to present drill results from holes 65 through 77 on its flagship, 185-hectare La Bodega property, part of an ongoing gold exploration program on Ventana’s 4,518 hectare land position in the California-Vetas gold mining district of northeast Colombia. Significant drill intercepts at La Bodega include 34.62 grams per tonne gold over 12.75 metres, 6.20 grams per tonne gold over 21.00 metres and 3.16 grams per tonne gold over 61.00 metres. The drill results reported on here include infill drilling as well as extensions to the high-grade footwall zone and a new discovery at the Las Mercedes target. Ventana has drilled 105 holes totalling 25,457 metres at La Bodega.

Gold assay results with completed QA/QC verification have been compiled for the first 77 drill holes. Results of holes 1 through 64 were released earlier in Ventana press releases dated November 7, 2008 and December 22, 2008. Select drill hole intercepts from holes 65 to 77 are reported below:

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 ranging between 60% -100% of the reported down-hole lengths.

A drill hole location map and a complete listing of drill intercepts from the first 77 holes are available at http://www.ventanagold.com/.

Gold mineralization at the La Bodega property is hosted within the same broad, northeast-trending fault zone as the adjoining Angostura gold deposit of Greystar Resources, which contains a National Instrument 43-101 (“NI 43-101”) compliant measured and indicated resource of 11.5 million ounces as announced by Greystar in December 2008. Mineralization at La Bodega principally occurs as a series of north-northwest-dipping parallel-sheeted vein zones, breccias and mineralized faults situated within an envelope of pervasively phyllic altered and variably silicified gneiss and intrusive rocks.

Core drilling by Ventana initially tested two areas within an 850-metre strike length extending southwest from the property line shared with Greystar Resources. The first 350 metres comprises the La Bodega zone, hosting the historical artisanal La Bodega mine, and the second area is the La Mascota zone, where 400 metres of strike length was tested. Infill drilling at the La Bodega and La Mascota zones continues to confirm and expand upon previous high-grade drill results. The La Rosa zone, a 200-metre gap between these two areas, has only a few initial drill holes completed due to difficult drill access. The Las Mercedes zone is a new target area situated 400 metres to the south of the La Bodega zone.

La Bodega Zone

Drill results to date have shown the La Bodega zone to contain intersections of potentially ore grade material over composite true widths of 60 to 150 metres along a 350-metre strike length and to depths of at least 300 metres, remaining open at depth. A new high-grade zone was discovered last year situated in the footwall of the main mineralized structure. Holes DDH-08-LB-70, 72, 74 and 76 have extended the strike length of this zone to 150 metres where it appears to merge into the main zone to the northeast and remains open at depth and along strike to the southwest.

La Mascota Zone

The La Mascota zone has been shown to contain narrower, though generally higher-grade intersections of potentially ore grade material than that observed in the La Bodega zone, with estimated true composite widths ranging from 30 to 80 metres. Mineralization in the La Mascota zone has been tested over a strike length of 400 metres and to a depth of 100 metres and remains open along strike in both directions and at depth. Holes DDH-08-LB-73 and 77 have provided infill and down-dip confirmation of previous high-grade intercepts in the farthest southwest portion tested to date. A 100-metre step out to the southwest has been completed with final results pending.

La Rosa Zone

The 200 metre long La Rosa zone lies along strike between the La Bodega and La Mascota zones. La Rosa is an area of very steep topography with difficult drill access. Hole DDH-08-LB-69 was drilled from one of the few accessible sites to test the continuation of the La Bodega zone in that area. Although the hole intercepted numerous, relatively thin mineralized zones including 7.00 metres of 4.71 g/t Au and 17.00 metres of 1.13 g/t Au, it remains inconclusive whether these represent a continuation of the main zone or it has been offset by post-mineral faulting.

Las Mercedes Zone

The Las Mercedes zone is comprised of a group of artisanal tunnels and crosscuts along a 300-metre length of a high angle, fractured zone of sheeted vein structures. Initial scout drilling at the Las Mercedes mine cut through a series of northwest trending vein structures over a 200 metre strike length with initial results including 23.1 metres of 1.52 g/t Au in Hole 53, 17.9 metres of 3.09 g/t Au in Hole 56 and 11.0 metres of 6.37 g/t Au in Hole 58. An additional discovery was made at the El Tierrero area, 300 metres west of the Las Mercedes mine, where Hole DDH-08-LB-068 intercepted two mineralized zones containing 38.0 metres of 2.41 g/t Au and 16.0 metres of 6.19 g/t Au, the geometry of which remain to be defined. These initial results are encouraging and further drilling is planned for this area.

Review by Qualified Person, Quality Control and Reports

The results of the company’s drilling program have been reviewed, verified and compiled by Ventana’s VP of Exploration Jon Lehmann, L.P.G., a qualified person as defined by 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.

Ventana utilizes a rigorous QA/QC program with respect to sampling procedures including chain-of-custody tracking of core until shipment to the analytical laboratory. Core is sawn in half with one half shipped to an independent prep lab and samples shipped for analysis to ACME Analytical Laboratories Ltd., an ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 17025 certified laboratory in Vancouver, B.C. The remainder of the core is stored in a secured storage facility for future assay verification. Blanks, duplicates and certified reference standards are inserted into the sample stream to monitor laboratory performance and mineralized intervals are re-assayed at Inspectorate America Corp. analytical laboratory in Sparks, Nevada.

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

About Ventana

Ventana holds rights to 4,518 hectares of exploration property in the California-Vetas gold district in Colombia, of which 3,710 hectares are wholly owned with the remainder under option to acquire a 100% interest. Ventana recently completed a 101-hole drill program totalling 25,100 metres at La Bodega, a property lying adjacent to Greystar Resources’ Angostura gold-silver deposit, and plans to complete a 43-101 mineral resource estimate in 2009.

Forward-looking Statements

The statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements involving known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to vary materially from targeted results. Such risks and uncertainties include those described from time to time in Ventana’s latest quarterly report and management discussion and analysis. Ventana assumes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For additional information please visit http://www.ventanagold.com/or contact:

Meghan Brown, Investor Relations Manager

Phone: (604) 687-1717

Fax: (604) 687-1715

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