Spokane, Washington - Matthew Russell, President of Azteca Gold Corp. (the "Company") announces that the Company begins diamond drilling operations today at its Two Mile silver exploration project near Osburn, Idaho. The first of three drill pads slated for drilling during the fourth quarter of 2007 has been prepared and the Company's Boart Longyear LF70 diamond core rig will commence drilling under a services contract with M2 Technical Services. The first core hole will be drilled to a maximum target depth of 2000 FT.

"It is a credit to our Vice President of Exploration, John Mears, and his oversight of the M2 Technical Services team that USDA Forest Service drill permits were received in less than four months and the first drill pad was prepared in under a week," said Russell. "Azteca now has three exploration drilling projects underway in the Sierra Madre of Mexico, Mineral County, Nevada, and the Silver Valley of Idaho," Russell added. 

Two Mile (TWO) - Silver Valley, Shoshone County, Idaho

On August 14, 2007 the Company announced it had entered into an arms-length joint venture agreement (the "Two Mile Joint Venture") to acquire up to 50% of the Silver Valley Two Mile Property. The Two Mile Property is owned by Silver Royal Apex, Inc. of Wallace, Idaho and is comprised of 118 unpatented claims. Diamond core drilling has begun and is expected to continue throughout the fourth quarter of 2007. 

Guerra al Tirano (GAT) - Sierra Madre, Temoris, Chihuahua, Mexico

Layne de Mexico continues with the RC drilling and has completed over 9,500 FT or just under two thirds of the 5,000 meter program. Construction is now underway on both an extension to the main drill road to the south along the Tres de Mayo concession as well as a lower drill road. These additional drill roads will afford access for step-out diamond core and RC drilling over much of the vein strike length on the Tres de Mayo concession, which has not yet been tested in the current program. All assays on the diamond drill core are expected by the week of October 29th with first assays on the RC cuttings following within 1 to 2 weeks, according to the most recent update by ALS Chemex who is performing the assays in Vancouver, BC. 

Marietta Project (MAT) - Mineral County, Nevada

Now that diamond core drilling is underway on the first of seven prepared pads at Marietta with the Company's Boart Longyear LF90 drill rig, management has decided to go out for reverse circulation (RC) drilling proposals to follow closely behind the diamond core program. Because of the relative availability of RC drill rigs, RC drilling is expected to commence as early as the second week of November 2007. 

This press release has been reviewed by John Mears who is the qualified person for this press release as defined by National Instrument 43-101.