Vancouver, B.C. March 3, 2008. Alto Ventures Ltd. (ATV: TSX.V) is pleased to announce that it has completed the acquisition of 100% interest in the Despinassy Project, Quebec through the purchase of the 24.5% participating interest that it did not already own from its Joint Venture partner Commander Resources Ltd. Under the terms of the purchase agreement, the Company acquired all of Commander's interest in the Despinassy Joint Venture for one time cash payment of $375,000 and issuance to Commander of 1,875,000 treasury shares of Alto Ventures. Commander will retain a 1% NSR royalty on 83 claims and 0.25% NSR on the other 30 claims. Alto will have the right to buy-down the NSR on the 83 claims to 0.5% for $500,000.
The purchase agreement has received approval from the Board of Directors of Commander Resources Ltd and of Alto Ventures Ltd as well as acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange.
Previous work at Despinassy resulted in discovery of the Despinassy Shear Zone (DSZ) which hosts several gold targets. To date, the best known is the DAC Deposit where resources of 167,000 tonnes grading 6.88 g/t gold in the Indicated plus 445,000 tonnes grading 4.46 g/t gold in the Inferred categories were estimated in compliance with NI43-101 standards (see Alto news release dated November 26, 2006). Several other high priority prospects were identified along a six kilometre segment of the DSZ including the Darla Zone where drilling intersected 19.5 g/t gold across 2.1m (see Alto news release dated March 29, 2006) and the gold zones in Area 3 located three kilometres east of the DAC Deposit (4.6 g/t gold across 2 m in Zone 20 and 2.4 g/t gold across 6 m in Zone 21).
Consolidation of ownership in one of Alto's core projects is consistent with the Company's strategy of maintaining significant exposure in areas of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt that are considered to have high potential for discovery of economic gold deposits. Alto has recently completed 625 line kilometres of helicopter-borne VTEM Time Domain electromagnetic and magnetometer surveys over the property and started diamond drilling. The diamond drilling program consists of approximately 4,000 m and is focused on testing the Darla Zone and Area 3. Results from the drilling will be reported as they become available.
The Company has recently completed diamond drilling in the Beardmore-Geraldton Gold Belt and is preparing for an aggressive summer exploration program which will include surface work and diamond drilling (see Alto news release dated February 21, 2008).
Mike Koziol, P. Geo., P.Eng. and Alto's President and CEO is the Qualified Person who has reviewed and approved this news release.
About Alto Ventures Ltd
Alto Ventures Ltd. is a gold exploration and development company with a portfolio of properties in the Canadian Shield. With a pipeline of quality projects, the Company's approach to maximizing opportunities while minimizing exploration risk is to attract well financed partners with the technical expertise to take the projects onto feasibility and subsequently production.
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.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD,
Mike Koziol, P. Geo., P. Eng.
President and CEO
The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
For further information contact:
Mark Prosser
Investor Relations Manager
ALTO VENTURES LTD.
910-475 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC, V6C 2B3
Tel: 604-638-3947
Fax: 604-689-3609
Email: mark@altoventures.com
Website: www.altoventures.com
