Vancouver, B.C., January 29, 2008. Alto Ventures Ltd. (ATV: TSX-V) is pleased to announce results from nine diamond drill holes (MUD07-13 to 21) completed in December on the Alto-Wescan Goldfield Inc. (WGF: TSX-V) Mud Lake Project located in the Beardmore-Geraldton Gold Belt. The Mud Lake Property shares a common boundary with the Hercules Property, located to the north of Mud Lake, where Kodiak Exploration Ltd. continues to report significant gold mineralization from its drilling (see Kodiak news release dated January 14, 2008). To the south and southwest of Mud Lake, Ontex Resources Ltd. is exploring the Brookbank Gold Deposit which is reported to contain 629,900 ounces of gold (see Ontex news release dated November 15, 2007).
The December drilling continued to test targets along the Mud Lake Shear Zone ("MLS"), where previous work identified twelve surface gold occurrences along a six kilometre segment of the MLS (see Alto news releases dated November 22, 2007). The holes reported here tested one kilometre of the MLS near the northeast end, drilling three of the occurrences (Showing #3, #4, and #5) not drilled previously.
Significant amounts of gold, up to 6.34 g/t across 0.5 m, were intersected in four of the nine holes. Shearing and quartz veining were also intersected in the other holes although the gold values were lower.
Table of Significant Assay Results from the December, 2007 Mud Lake Drilling Program ---------------------------------------------------------------- Hole From (m) To (m) Width (m) Au (g/t) Zone ---------------------------------------------------------------- MUD07-14 19.0 21.0 2.0 2.12 Showing #3 ---------------------------------------------------------------- MUD07-16 21.1 21.6 0.5 6.34 Showing #4 ---------------------------------------------------------------- MUD07-17 23.7 24.7 1.0 3.77 Showing #4 ---------------------------------------------------------------- MUD07-19 61.3 62.3 1.0 1.44 Showing #5 ----------------------------------------------------------------
Intersecting gold in shear hosted quartz veins under these surface showings is encouraging as it corroborates the strength of the gold system along the MLS. The drill holes completed in March and December of 2007 have tested the MLS intermittently for almost five kilometres along strike and confirmed that the mineralization exposed in the surface trenches does have depth continuity.
The program finished with the completion of another nine holes in January and samples from these were delivered to the laboratory on January 25th. These holes follow up mineralization discovered during Alto's program in March 2007, where gold values of up to 13.9 g/t gold across 1.0 m were intersected within a wider zone that assays 3.39 g/t across 6.1 m (see Alto news releases dated March 6 and March 20, 2007). Results for these holes will be released when they become available.
With continued success in advancing Mud Lake and its four other projects in the area, the Company is well positioned in the Beardmore-Geraldton Gold Belt and is formulating aggressive exploration programs, including diamond drilling, for the 2007 summer months.
Mike Koziol, P. Geo., P.Eng. and Alto's President and CEO is the Qualified Person who has reviewed and approved this news release.
Quality Assurance/ Quality Control
Core processing included descriptive logging and selection of samples for analyses. The NQ-size cores selected for analyses were sawed in half and one half was delivered to a commercial laboratory by Alto staff for analyses and the other half retained for future reference. Gold assays were performed at Accurassay Laboratories in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The gold assaying method uses a standard Fire Assay with AA finish technique on a 30 gram sub-sample taken from a 500 gram split from the submitted sample. Commercially prepared standards were inserted by Alto every 25 samples to ensure precision of the results. The laboratory ran internal check assays every 10 samples to ensure lab quality control.
Mineralized intervals reported are down-hole lengths as there is insufficient drill hole density to estimate true widths.
About Alto Ventures Ltd
Alto Ventures Ltd. is a gold exploration and development company with a portfolio of thirteen 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 on to 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
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
