Vancouver, BC, April 14, 2005. Alto Ventures Ltd (ATV: TSX-V) is pleased to announce additional results from the 2005 diamond drilling program at the Despinassy gold project near Val d'Or, Quebec. The Company is delineating gold mineralization along the Despinassy Shear Zone, a district scale, east-west trending structural break parallel to and 75 kilometres north of the Cadillac-Larder Lake Break. This region has produced in excess of 90 million ounces of gold in prolific gold camps such as Val d'Or, Malartic, and Kirkland Lake.
Infill drilling of the DAC deposit has continued to outline gold mineralization in multiple zones of sub-parallel quartz veining, where intercepts up to 14.6 grams gold per tonne over 3.7 metres were previously reported in Alto's news release dated February 16, 2005. The first three of the five additional holes drilled on the DAC deposit have intersected significant gold mineralization in four zones, with excellent continuity reported in Zones 2 & 3:
|
DDH |
From |
To |
Assay |
Width |
Zone |
| DES05-79 |
116.2 |
117.0 |
6.49 |
0.8 |
Vein between Zone 1 and Zone 2 |
| (Includes) |
130.6 |
134.1 |
8.11 |
3.5 |
Zone 2 |
| (Includes) |
142.0 |
146.0 |
4.53 |
4.0 |
Zone 2 |
| DES05-80 |
197.5 |
199.6 |
3.81 |
2.1 |
Zone 3 |
|
97.0 |
98.0 |
7.40 |
1.0 |
Vein between Zone 1 and Zone 2 | |
| DES05-81 |
111.7 |
112.4 |
4.57 |
0.7 |
Zone 2 |
| (Includes) |
334.8 |
338.5 |
5.45 |
3.7 |
Zone 2 |
| (Includes) |
384.3 |
386.1 |
4.00 |
1.8 |
Zone 3 |
The 2005 infill drilling program has so far confirmed the continuity of high-grade gold mineralization for 150 metres along strike and to a depth of 250 metres at 25 metre (approximate) intervals. The originally wide-spaced drilling undertaken by Cameco intersected Zone 2 and 3 for a strike length of up to 300 metres and to a depth of 600 metres. Assays are pending for the last two holes of the infill program and will be reported when available.
Ten reconnaissance holes (DES05-69 to 78) were also completed to test IP anomalies to the west of the DAC deposit and to the west of Area 3. Six of the ten holes intersected the gold mineralized Despinassy Shear Zone for up to 30 metres width with the best result in quartz veining that assays 3.36 grams gold per tonne over 0.7metres. This widely-spaced reconnaissance drill program confirms that the auriferous Despinassy Shear Zone extends a further 2.3 kilometres west of the DAC deposit.
Plan maps, longitudinal sections and cross sections of the Despinassy Shear Zone may be viewed here: http://www.altoventures.com/projects/despinassy/
Quality Assurance/Quality Control
Core processing included descriptive logging and selection of samples for analyses. The cores selected for analyses were sawed in half and one half was delivered to a commercial laboratory and the other half retained for future reference. Gold assays were performed at ALS Chemex Laboratories in Val d'Or, Quebec. The gold assaying method uses a standard Fire Assay with AA or Gravimetric finish technique, as requested by the Company, on a 30 gram sub-sample taken from a 250 gram split of the sample submitted.
The laboratory was instructed to prepare and analyze a second 250 gram split from the reject for those samples that indicated greater than 2 g/t Au on the initial analysis. The results reported represent composites using weighted averages of all analyses performed on each specific sample. Commercially prepared standards were inserted every 25 samples to ensure precision of the results. Mike Koziol P.Geo., Alto's Vice President of Exploration, is the qualified person supervising the drill program.
About Alto Ventures Ltd.
Alto is acquiring a 70% interest from Cameco in the Despinassy Joint Venture through a series of cash and share payments totaling $700,000 over a five year period. Under terms of an agreement with Commander Resources Ltd., Alto's 30% partner in the project, Commander is being carried for the first $500,000 of the current program with Alto acting as operator.
Alto is a gold exploration company with a broad portfolio of mid to advanced stage exploration properties in the Canadian Shield. In addition to the advanced-stage Despinassy project, the Company has a portfolio of 7 other 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 several early-stage discoveries of gold mineralization in the prolific 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 or 705-522-6372.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD:
Rick Mazur
President & CEO
Alto Ventures Ltd.
The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release.
For further information, contact:
Rick Mazur
President & CEO
Alto Ventures Ltd.
Suite 910-475 Howe Street
Vancouver, B.C. V6C 2B3
Phone: 604-681-2409
Fax: 604-689-3609
Email: info@altoventures.com
Mike Koziol
Vice President, Exploration
Alto Ventures Ltd.
Unit 3 -- 1349 Kelly Lake Road
Sudbury, Ontario P3E 5P5
Phone: 705-522-6372
Fax: 705-522-8856
Email: exploration@altoventures.com
