Vancouver, B.C., September 19, 2005. Alto Ventures Ltd. (ATV: TSX-V) is pleased to announce results from its recently completed exploration program at the Mud Lake Gold Project. The project comprises 1,696 hectares and is located 25 kilometres (km) northeast of Beardmore, Ontario within the historic Beardmore-Geraldton Gold Camp from which over 4.1 million ounces of gold has been produced.
Alto's summer exploration program included geological mapping, prospecting and IP geophysical surveying. The purpose of the program was to generate targets for diamond drilling.
The program has identified 9 main gold showings on strike along a 6 km northeast-trending corridor of sheared granodiorite. Gold occurs principally within quartz veins and areas of silicification and is associated with minor amounts of pyrite and chalcopyrite. Highlights of assay results from grab samples include:
--------------------------------------------------------- Showing Assay (g/t) Location --------------------------------------------------------- No. 1 30.00 Northeast end of property --------------------------------------------------------- No. 2 5.30 1000 metres (m) SW of No. 1 --------------------------------------------------------- No. 3 4.08 500 m SW of No. 2 --------------------------------------------------------- No. 4 5.49 400 m SW of No. 3 --------------------------------------------------------- No. 5 6.57 200 m SW of No. 4 --------------------------------------------------------- Oliver Severn 50.61 800 m SW of No. 5 --------------------------------------------------------- No. 6 19.81 1600 m SW of Oliver Severn --------------------------------------------------------- Clarke 8.06 700 m SW of No. 6 --------------------------------------------------------- Clarke Extension 7.94 150 m SW of Clarke ---------------------------------------------------------
The Company also completed 16.9 km of IP geophysical surveying to test 2.1 km of the auriferous shear including No 3, No 4, No 5 and Oliver Severn showings. The survey identified numerous IP responses and over 20 prospective targets have been recommended for follow-up testing including diamond drilling. A map indicating sample locations and area of the IP survey may be viewed here: http://www.altoventures.com/i/maps/Mud-lake-G-B-District-gif
Based on the results from the 2005 summer program, the Company believes the targets identified are primed for diamond drill testing. Previous work over the length of the shear corridor focused on surface prospecting and trenching, with limited drilling on the Oliver Severn showing in the 1930's. None of the other gold showings have previously been drilled.
Quality Assurance/Quality Control
All samples were collected by Company personnel, and were then packaged, sealed and shipped to Accurassay Laboratories in Thunder Bay, Ontario for gold assay analysis. The gold assaying method used was a standard Fire Assay with AA finish technique on 30 gram sub-samples taken from a 250 to 500 gram split off each sample submitted. Mike Koziol P.Geo., Alto's Vice President of Exploration, is the qualified person supervising all aspects of the exploration program and sample protocol at Mud Lake.
Alto Ventures Ltd. is a gold exploration company with a broad portfolio of exploration properties located within the Canadian Shield. In addition to the advanced-stage Despinassy project, the Company has a portfolio of other high-potential projects, including the Coldstream base metal and gold project in the Shebandowan greenstone belt near Thunder Bay, Ontario, the Oxford Lake gold project in northern Manitoba, and three projects in the historic Beardmore-Geraldton Gold Camp. Alto management possesses a track record in mine development and project financing. For further information visit www.altoventures.com, email us at info@altoventures.com , or phone 604-681-2409.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
Rick Mazur
President & CEO
The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
