Vancouver, B.C., December 30, 2013. Alto Ventures Ltd. (ATV: TSX-V) is pleased to announce that it has signed an Exploration and Option Agreement (the "Agreement") with Razor Rock Resources Inc. ("Razor Rock") under which Razor Rock can earn up to 60% working interest in the Oxford Lake Gold Property in Manitoba from Alto Ventures. Razore Rock will issue 100,000 common shares and pay $10,000 to Alto Ventures on the closing of the transaction, scheduled for December 31, 2013, to acquire the option.
The Oxford Lake Gold Property (the "Property") is owned 100% by Alto Ventures and comprises 35,296 ha in central Manitoba, approximately 150 km southeast of Thompson. The Property is host to the historical Rusty Gold Zone as well as several other significant gold and base metals occurrences. In 2012, Alto Ventures completed 1,029 metres of diamond drilling in six holes and intersected significant gold in drill hole RUS12-03 from the Blue Jay area. RUS12-03 intersected two zones of gold mineralization; Zone One -- 2.7 m averaging 6.7 g/t gold including 22.5 g/t gold over 0.5m, and Zone two -- 6.8 m averaging 5.7 g/t gold including 11.7 g/t gold over 1.6 m and 16.5 g/t gold over 1.0 m (see Alto Ventures news release dated May 8, 2012).
Razore Rock can earn a 51% working interest in the Property by issuing a further 500,000 common shares, paying a further $50,000 in cash option payments and incurring $2,100,000 in expenditures on the Property by December 30, 2016 as set out below. Razore Rock has until March 15, 2014 to commit to expend a minimum of $60,000 on or before June 1, 2014 to keep part of the Property in good standing (the MELs) and to spend an aggregate of $100,000 in exploration on the Property on or before December 30, 2014 when 200,000 common shares are issuable and $20,000 is payable to Alto Ventures. Razore Rock will then be required to expend $1,000,000 in exploration of the Property on or before June 30, 2015. A further $30,000 option payment and 300,000 common shares are issuable on or before December 31, 2015 and Razore Rock will be required to spend a further $1,000,000 on expenditures on the Property on or before December 31, 2016.
Once Razore Rock has earned its 51% working interest, it has the option for ninety (90) days to elect to earn a further 9% working interest by paying $40,000 and issuing 400,000 common shares to Alto Ventures and expending a further $1,000,000 on the Property on or before December 31, 2017 after which the parties will enter into a joint venture pursuant to which Razore Rock will have a 60% participating interest and Alto Ventures will have a 40% participating interest in the Property. If Razore Rock elects not to earn the additional 9% working interest, the parties will enter into a joint venture immediately with Razore Rock holding a 51% participating interest and Alto Ventures holding a 49% participating interest in the Property.
About the Rusty Gold Deposit
The Rusty Gold Deposit hosts a Historical Resource of 800,000 tonnes at an average grade of 6 g/t and contains approximately 154,000 of gold. The mineralization was drilled to a depth of 600 metres by Noranda and is open along strike and to depth. The resource was estimated in 1990 and a Qualified Person (QP), as defined by NI43-101, has not done sufficient work to classify this historical estimate as current mineral resources. Alto is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources, as defined by NI43-101, and thus the historical estimate should not be relied upon. The Rusty Gold Deposit is associated with a banded iron formation (BIF) and is one of several significant gold occurrences associated with a regional trend of aeromagnetic "High" anomalies. This aeromagnetic trend, which extends for 30 km in the northern half of Alto's Oxford Lake property, is interpreted to be the geophysical signature of the BIF that hosts gold mineralization.
About the Oxford Lake Project
The 35,296 ha Oxford Lake gold property is located in central Manitoba, approximately 150 km southeast of Thompson. Geologically, the property lies in the Oxford Lake-Knee Lake greenstone belt near the west end of the Superior Province of the Canadian Shield. The Oxford Lake property lies along a major regional structural corridor that hosts the pre-development Monument Bay Gold Deposit near the eastern end of this corridor. The Monument Bay Deposit hosts reported resources of 2.9 million ounces of gold in the Indicated and Measured categories at an average grade of 1.3 g/t gold plus 0.7 million ounces in the Inferred category (see Mega Precious Metals Inc website) and is located approximately 150 km east of the Oxford Lake project. This corridor is relatively under-explored and could be an early stage analogue to the large gold-producing Destor-Porcupine or Larder-Cadillac corridors in Ontario and Quebec.
Qualified Person Statement
This news release has been reviewed and approved for technical content by Mike Koziol, P. Geo, a qualified person under the provisions of National Instrument 43-101.
Update on Alto's Other Activities
Alto Ventures completed a small prospecting and sampling program on its Empress Project in October and November, collecting grab samples of altered and sulphide mineralized granodiorite. The Empress property is located in the Hemlo-Schreiber greenstone belt in Ontario, approximately 20 km northeast of the North Shore gold property owned by partners Balmoral Resources Ltd and GTA Resources and Mining Inc. Continued exploration success has been reported from the North Shore property including results of 9.47 g/t gold over nine metres in a press release issued by Balmoral Resources on December 10, 2013.
The Company also completed a program of 'geo-referencing" of its claim boundaries for the Expansion Lake project in the Beardmore-Geraldton gold area. This work will be credited to the assessment bank for Expansion Lake and upon approval by the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, it will extend the 'good standing" of the Expansion Lake claims through 2014.
In December, Alto Ventures staked 24 mineral claims, covering 68,400 hectares in the area of the Pikoo diamond discovery reported by North Arrow Minerals Inc. in Saskatchewan.
About Alto Ventures Ltd
Alto Ventures Ltd. is an exploration and development company with a portfolio of highly prospective Canadian gold and base metals properties. The Company is active in Quebec in the Abitibi greenstone belt on the Destiny gold property and in Ontario, exploring in the Beardmore-Geraldton gold belt. In Manitoba, the Company is focused on the gold and base metals potential of the highly prospective but relatively under-explored Oxford Lake property
For more details regarding the Company's projects, please visit our website at www.altoventures.com.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD,
Richard J. Mazur, P. Geo.,
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:
Mike Koziol,
President and Director
ALTO VENTURES LTD.
Unit 8 -- 1351D Kelly Lake Rd
Sudbury, ON., P3E 5P5
Tel: 705-522-6372
Fax: 705-522-8856
Email: koziol@altoventures.com
Rick Mazur,
CEO and Director
ALTO VENTURES LTD.
1158-409 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC, V6C 1T2
Tel: 604-638-3943
Fax: 604-689-3609
Email: info@altoventures.com
