Vancouver, B.C., December 17, 2007. Alto Ventures Ltd. (ATV: TSX-V) held its Annual General Meeting on December 14 and is pleased to announce the re-election of Marian (Mike) Koziol, Kenneth Judge, Richard Mazur, Paul Roberts and David Cowan to the Board of Directors. Mr. John Prochnau has retired from the BOD but will continue to actively serve the Company in the capacity of Technical and Special Advisor. Mike Koziol (P. Eng., P. Geo.) was appointed President and CEO following the AGM along with Kerry Beamish and Jacqueline Collins who were appointed Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary respectively.
The Company has also approved a budget totalling $1.8 million for exploration programs to be carried out in 2008. The programs will concentrate in part on the Despinassy Project located north of Val d'Or, Quebec and on the Company's projects in the Beardmore-Geraldton Gold Belt. The Despinassy program will focus on the Despinassy Shear and include approximately 4,000 m of diamond drilling as well as airborne electromagnetic and magnetometer surveys over the property. Drilling is scheduled to start in mid-January with the twin objectives of further testing the Darla Zone where previous work intersected gold values of 19.5 g/t across 2.1 m (see Alto news release dated March 29 2006) as well as at Zone 20 where historical drilling intersected gold values of 4.6 g/t across 2.0 m and 1.0 g/t across 10.4 m. Drilling will also test the west end of the DAC Deposit where Alto estimated an NI43-101 compliant resource of 167,000 tonnes averaging 6.88 g/t gold in the Indicated category and an additional 445,000 tonnes averaging 4.46 g/t gold in the Inferred category. The deposit remains open along strike to the west and to depth (see Alto news release dated November 27, 2006).
The Company will continue aggressive exploration on its Cote-801, Mud Lake and Greenoaks projects in the Beardmore-Geraldton Gold Belt in 2008. The planned programs include mechanical trenching and diamond drilling and are scheduled to start in the spring after the snow and frost have melted away. This work is in addition to the current diamond drilling campaign that is in progress on the Alto Ventures Ltd-Wescan Goldfields Inc Mud Lake Property (see Alto news release dated November 22 2007).
As per Alto's stock option plan, the Company has granted to certain of its directors, officers, employees and consultants incentive stock options to purchase up to an aggregate of 1,795,000 common shares exercisable on or before December 16, 2012 at a price of $0.20 per share.
Mike Koziol, P. Geo., P.Eng. and Alto's President and CEO is the Qualified Person who has reviewed and approved the content of this news release.
About Alto Ventures Ltd
Alto Ventures Ltd. is a gold exploration and development company with a portfolio of twelve 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
