Vancouver, B.C., January 21, 2009. Alto Ventures Ltd. (ATV:
TSX-V) is pleased to provide a report on results from its 2008 summer and
fall exploration programs. The Company maintained its focus on the prolific
Beardmore-Geraldton Gold Belt in Ontario as well
as proceeded to advance other properties in northwestern
Ontario. The results continue to provide encouragement and exploration
programs for 2009 are in preparation although in light of the current
market conditions, the Company's exploration activities are being planned
with suitable caution.
Beardmore-Geraldton Area
Diamond drilling programs were completed on Alto's 100% owned Three
Towers Property and on the Mud Lake Joint Venture Property. Six holes
completed by The Company on the Three Towers property were the first to
test sections of a 400 m long gold-mineralized corridor where gold values
of up to 15.5 g/t were obtained from surface grab samples. Three of six
holes intersected highly anomalous gold including 2.34 g/t gold across 0.75
m in TT08-01, 2.4 g/t gold across 1.1 m in TT08-04, and 2.48 g/t gold
across 0.5 m in TT08-06. Results from the drilling are particularly
significant as they confirm the gold mineralization exposed on surface does
extend to a depth of at least 100 m. The mineralization is open along
strike and to depth and additional drilling is required in 2009 to evaluate
this corridor.
The Three Towers Property is easily accessible as Provincial Highway
801 cuts across the gold mineralized horizon approximately 2.1 km north of
the Trans Canada Highway 11 and it can be drilled during every season. The
Company is currently compiling the data to select targets.
Drilling at Mud Lake intersected intense shearing and strong
alteration associated with the Mud Lake Shear ('MLS'). The airborne
geophysical surveys completed in 2008 have delineated several new targets
along the MLS and at the Oliver Severn Showing where the Company previously
drilled 13.9 g/t gold across 1.0 m (please see Alto news release dated
December 11, 2008). The company will be refocusing in this area as a
priority for 2009.
The Expansion Lake Property is located immediately east of Mud Lake
and south of the Hercules Property operated by Kodiak Exploration Ltd. Airborne
high-resolution magnetometer and XDS/VLF electromagnetic surveys were
completed in May followed by prospecting and mechanical stripping programs
in October. Property-scale shear zones that are altered and contain
anomalous gold values (hundreds ppb) were detected in several areas
including five that were stripped and channel sampled. Results from each of
the stripped areas indicate strong gold enrichment, in the tens to hundreds
ppb gold (up to 745 ppb/1m). Silver is also anomalous in some of the
samples, up to 29 g/t.
The Expansion Lake Property covers 2,576 ha and the work completed
to date represents only a cursory examination of the property's potential. The
results thus far, including identification of extensive shearing, the
strength and size of the alteration envelopes and the widespread gold
anomalies, are particularly encouraging as they are considered indicative
of regional scale gold mineralizing systems and exploration to date has
been very limited. The next stage of exploration will include ground
geophysics in preparation for diamond drilling.
Results from 2008 work completed on Alto's other Beardmore area
projects including Greenoaks and the Kodiak
Exploration Joint Venture at Cote Archie Lake were reported previously
(please visit our website at www.altoventures.com).
Coldstream
Project
The Coldstream Project is located in the Shebandowan greenstone belt, approximately 100 km west
of Thunder Bay. A prospecting program was carried out in August and
September to follow up previously delineated geophysical targets. Prospectors
located several gold bearing sulphide occurrences including three which are
new showings with gold values of up to 2.0 g/t in grab samples. Importantly,
the showings occur within an interpreted gold mineralized corridor that
extends for over 10 km on the Coldstream Property
and which encompasses Alto's historical East Coldstream
Gold Deposit and the Moss Lake Gold Deposit. Discovery of these gold
showings partially fills the data gap between the two gold deposits and
confirms management's theory of the presence of a sizable gold system.
Empress Project
The Empress Project is located adjacent to the Trans Canada Highway
17 approximately 100 km west of Hemlo in the
Schreiber-Hemlo greenstone belt. Two diamond
drill holes totalling 333 m were completed to test the Empress Structure, a
gold bearing shear zone that has been traced on surface for over 1.6 km on
the property. Previous work on the property located surface zones up to 16
m wide averaging 1.3 g/t gold including higher grades containing 5.3 g/t
gold across 2.8 m in surface channel samples. Because of rugged topography,
past drilling was limited to ten holes near the west end of the structure,
and about 300 m west of the wide surface gold zones. One of these
historical drill holes returned gold values of 44.2 g/t across 0.6 m core
length.
Drilling by Alto was also completed near the west end of the Empress
Structure where access was easier and each of the two Alto holes
intersected impressive looking quartz veins mineralized with pyrite,
chalcopyrite, galena and sphalerite. Anomalous
gold was also intersected in each of the holes, up to 0.6 g/t across 2.3m
including a higher grade section containing 2.0 g/t across 0.5 m.
Results are encouraging and indicate that additional drilling is
required especially to test beneath the wide gold zones exposed on surface
where no previous drilling was carried out.
Quality Assurance/ Quality Control
Core processing included descriptive logging and selection of
samples for analyses. The NQ-size cores selected for analyses were sawed in
half and one half was delivered to a commercial laboratory by Alto staff
for analyses and the other half retained for future reference. Gold assays
were performed at Accurassay Laboratories in
Thunder Bay, Ontario. The gold assaying method uses a standard Fire Assay
with AA finish technique on a 30 gram sub-sample taken from a 500 gram
split from the submitted sample. Commercially prepared standards were
inserted by Alto every 25 samples to ensure precision of the results. The
laboratory ran internal check assays every 10 samples to ensure lab quality
control.
Surface channel samples are 5 cm wide and cut perpendicular to the
strike of the target being sampled (vein, shear zone or sulphide horizon). The
channels were cut continuously across the width of the sample with a
motorized saw using a diamond saw blade to a depth of 10 cm and the cut
rock was chipped out with hammer and chisel. The samples were then
described by Alto geologists noting rock types and mineralization and
bagged for delivery to the assay laboratory for quantitative analyses for
gold and selected elements. The samples were analysed at Accurassay Laboratories in Thunder Bay using standard
Fire Assay/AA procedures.
Mike Koziol, P. Geo., P.Eng.
and Alto's President and Director is the Qualified
Person who has reviewed and approved this news release.
About Alto Ventures
Alto Ventures Ltd. is a gold exploration and development company
with a portfolio of highly prospective properties in the Canadian Shield. Alto's
Management and Board of Directors have a long and successful track record
of creating shareholder value through systematic exploration, acquisitions
and discovery. The Company is currently active in Quebec where it is
focussed on the Despinassy project in the Abitibi
Greenstone Belt and in Ontario in the Beardmore and Shebandowan
gold districts.