Vancouver, B.C., April 7, 2009. Alto Ventures Ltd. (the "Company") (TSX.V: ATV) announces that it has entered into a letter agreement (the "Agreement") with Foundation Resources Inc. (TSX.V: FDN.P) a capital pool corporation listed on the TSX Venture Exchange ("Foundation") wherein the Company has granted Foundation an option to acquire up to a 70% interest in the Company's Coldstream Property in the Burchell Lake Area of Ontario (the "Property"). The transaction would constitute Foundation's "qualifying transaction" under the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange.
Under the terms of the Agreement Foundation can acquire a 60% interest in the Property by issuing the Company a total of 1,000,000 common shares over a two year period and incurring $3,000,000 in expenditures on the Property over the course of 4 years, a minimum of $400,000 of which must be incurred in the first year.
Alto holds or has the right to acquire a 100% right, title and interest in and to the claims comprising the Property located in the Burchell Lake Area, Ontario, subject to certain underlying production royalties on some of the claims. The Property consists of 71 patented claims and 55 staked claims that cover 4,357 hectares.
The Property is located in the Shebandowan greenstone belt approximately 100 km west of Thunder Bay, Ontario. The Property includes the former producing North Coldstream copper-silver-gold mine and the East Coldstream gold deposit. During the past few years Alto made strategic land acquisitions through staking and purchases to cover over 10 km of a prospective mineralized structure.
In 2006, a program consisting of 2,062 m of diamond drilling was completed testing the East Coldstream gold deposit. Drilling has confirmed the presence of wide zones of gold mineralization with some intersections up to 68 m in core length and grading 1.2 g/t gold. The mineralized gold system has now been traced for two km at East Coldstream and remains open along strike and to depth.
The East Coldstream gold deposit occurs at the northeast end of a linear corridor that extends west-southwest for over 20 km and includes the North Coldstream copper-gold-silver mine (historic production of 102 million pounds of copper, 440,000 ounces of silver, and 22,000 ounces of gold from 2.7 million tons of ore), Alto's Burchell claims with multiple gold zones of up to 0.95 g/t gold over 34 m, the Moss Lake gold deposit owned by Moss Lake Mines Ltd with a NI43-101 resource estimate of 50.9 million tonnes grading 0.92 g/t gold (1.5 million contained ounces of gold) and several other significant mineral occurrences to the southwest.
Marian (Mike) Koziol, P.Eng., P.Geo., the President of Alto, is the qualified person responsible for the technical information relating to the Property set out in this news release.
Upon earning the initial 60% interest in the Property Foundation may elect to acquire a further 10% interest by completing a feasibility study on the Property. In circumstances where Foundation was to earn the 70% interest in the Property the Company would have the right, in lieu of retaining a 30% interest in the Property and proceeding with a joint venture with Foundation, to elect to take a 2.5% net smelter returns royalty, 1% of which could be repurchased by Foundation for $1,000,000.
Completion of the transaction remains subject to execution of a formal option agreement and acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange. Completion is also subject to Foundation completing a private placement so as to raise sufficient funds to satisfy the requirements of the TSX Ventures Exchange.
On closing of the transaction it is contemplated that Mike Koziol, the President and CEO of the Company, would be appointed to the board of directors of Foundation.
About Alto Ventures Ltd
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.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD,
Mike Koziol, P. Geo., P. Eng.
President & CEO
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts 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
