Vancouver, B.C., September 10, 2018. Alto Ventures Ltd. (ATV: TSX-V) is pleased to announce that summer exploration worked was completed on the Miner Lake, Mud Lake and Brookbank East properties in the Beardmore-Geraldton gold camp in Ontario (Figure 1). Surface exploration work including geological and detailed structural mapping, prospecting, ground VLF surveying, bedrock and glacial till sampling have given the Company a greater understanding of the controls of mineralization on each property. Work at Miner Lake was in preparation for a 1,000 metre diamond drill program planned for mid-September.
Figure 1 Location of Alto Ventures gold properties in the Beardmore-Geraldton gold belt
Miner Lake
Better understanding of the controls on gold mineralization was gained from the 2018 detailed structural mapping near the south end of the diorite intrusive where the largest numbers of gold occurrences were discovered to date at Miner Lake. A majority of these occurrences are within an E-W corridor that is 100 m to 150 m wide and extends for 1.3 km along strike. Gold is associated with disseminated and veinlet-controlled sulphides including pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite and pyrite occurring within zones of hydrothermal breccia and brittle-ductile faulting. The presence of chalcopyrite is an excellent visual indicator of gold mineralization. Four of nine holes drilled by Alto in 2011 were along this corridor, including hole MIN11-06 which cut a wide zone of 39.2 m averaging 0.6 g/t gold followed by a second zone averaging 0.385 g/t Au over 10.5 m (see Alto news release dated October 18, 2011). Hole MIN11-07 is located 100 m east of MIN11-06 and it cut 38.5 m averaging 0.483 g/t Au in an upper zone and also followed by a second zone averaging 0.259 g/t Au over 17.0 m.
New areas of the property were mapped, prospected and rock grab sampled. Zones of hydrothermal breccia were discovered in the diorite approximately one kilometer north of the main E-W mineralized corridor. These zones also appear to trend E-W and are similar in appearance to the gold-bearing breccias to the south. Bedrock grab samples confirmed a new a cluster of gold anomalies associated with these breccias, including 2.88 g/t Au. Additional prospecting followed by hydraulic stripping will be required to further evaluate this area.
Ground VLF consisting of five lines, totaling 10 km of geophysical surveying has been completed. Two strong VLF anomalies were delineated, one of which is approximately 200m south of the target E-W corridor. This anomaly is interpreted to be near the volcanic-intrusive contact and is an attractive target for drilling. The second is an ENE trending anomaly located one kilometre north of the main structural corridor and will require further surface exploration.
The upcoming drilling program will consist of 1000 m in five or six holes. The drilling will further test the main E-W mineralized corridor near holes MIN11-06 and 07 as well as its interpreted extension to the east. Two holes will test other targets on the property.
Mud Lake
Prospecting, geological mapping and limited glacial till sampling were completed in July, 2018. Glacial till sampling has identified a gold-in-till dispersion train down ice from the Mud Lake Shear Zone, a dominant northeast striking structure that trends across the property for over six kilometres and is host to at least 12 significant gold occurrences. Very anomalous gold grain counts of 169 grains (when standardized to a 10 kg table feed sample, 232 grains in raw sample) were recovered from one till sample in the southwest corner of the property. Almost 60% of the grains in this sample are pristine in shape. Anomalous gold grain counts were recovered from another sample, 200 m up ice from the above and closer to the MLSZ. In this sample, 119 gold grains were recovered (when normalized to 10 kg table feed, 166 grains in raw sample) and almost 92% of the grains are pristine in shape. The anomalous samples are from the southwest corner of the property down-ice from narrow gold bearing quartz veins within the MLSZ. This portion of the MLSZ has not been drilled previously.
Diamond drilling completed by Alto in 2007 and 2008 intersected significant gold values in several holes that tested north and central sections of the MLSZ at very shallow depths. Hole MUD 07-06 cut 6.1 m averaging 3.39 g/t Au from 12.3 m to 18.4 m depth, including 13.97 g/t Au over 1.0 m. This hole cut a second zone averaging 5.56 g/t Au over 1.0 m from 28.6 m to 29.6 m. Hole MUD08-22 cut 7.25 g/t Au over 1.0 m from 36.6 m to 37.6 m and MUD08-25 intersected 3.2 g/t Au over 1.0 m from 42.5 m to 43.5 m. No deep drilling has been carried on any of these gold zones.
Prospecting peripheral to the MLSZ has located several new but smaller shear zones and narrow quartz veins. In total 46 grab samples were collected in 2018 but the assay results did not return significant gold anomalies.
Brookbank East
This property was acquired by staking in April, 2018. First-pass mapping and prospecting were carried out to confirm the geology and to relocate historical gold occurrences. Several trenches from the 1980's were found and sampled, returning gold values up to 8.0 g/t gold from selected grab samples. In addition, a number of trenches dating back to the 1940's and 1950's were located but these could not be sampled as they are overgrown and caved and filled with sand. The property is heavily forested and exposures are mainly in ridge areas of mafic volcanic rocks and conglomerate. The gold target shear zones are most likely in the low lying valleys between the ridges and these are generally muskeg and cedar swamps. However given the exceptional past results, additional mapping and prospecting is required to further evaluate this property.
Quality Assurance/Quality Control
Rock grab samples were shipped to the AGAT Laboratories in Thunder Bay, where the rocks were crushed and pulverized to prepare sample pulps up to 250 grams to 85% passing 75 microns. The pulps were then assayed for gold. The gold assaying method uses a standard Fire Assay with AA finish technique on a 30 gram sub-sample taken from a 250 gram split from the submitted sample. Commercially prepared standards were inserted by Alto with each batch of samples shipped to ensure precision of the results.
Alto's field crews collected a total of 18 glacial till samples using hand shovels. Nominal field weights for each sample were 15 kg of material after passing through a 6 mm screen. The till samples were processed for free gold grains counts and grain shapes by Overburden Drilling Management Ltd. ("ODM") at their laboratory in Ottawa, Ontario. ODM is the industry pioneer and global leader in heavy mineral geochemistry and indicator mineral exploration. Details of the sample processing protocol and quality control can be obtained from ODM and their website www.odm.ca.
Alto's President, Mike Koziol, P. Geo. is a qualified person under the provisions of National Instrument 43-101 and approves the technical data and conclusions in this news release.
About Alto Ventures Ltd
Alto Ventures Ltd. is an exploration and development company with a portfolio of highly prospective Canadian gold properties. The Company is active in the Abitibi greenstone belt in Quebec on the Destiny gold property and is exploring in the Beardmore-Geraldton gold belt in Ontario. 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 7 -- 1351C Kelly Lake Rd
Sudbury, ON., P3E 5P5
Tel: 705-522-6372
Email: koziol@altoventures.com
Rick Mazur,
CEO and Director
ALTO VENTURES LTD.
Suite 615-800 W. Pender Street
Vancouver, BC, V6C 2V6
Tel: 604-689-2599
Email: mazur@altoventures.com
