- Indicated Resource contains approximately 364,000 ounces gold
- Inferred Resource contains approximately 247,000 ounces of gold
- DAC Deposit occurs at surface and is open in both strike and dip
- Awaiting assay results from the Phase 3 drilling program
January 24th, 2011, Vancouver, BC - Alto Ventures Ltd. ("ATV") TSX-V: ATV and Pacific North West Capital Corp. ("PFN") TSX: PFN; OTCBB: PAWEF; Frankfurt: P7J (together "the Companies") are pleased to announce receipt of a draft of an NI43-101 Technical Report ( the Report) including a new Mineral Resource Estimate for the DAC Gold Deposit on the Destiny Project located near Val d'Or, Quebec. The Report was prepared by Wardrop, a Tetra Tech Company (Wardrop) and incorporates over 7,600 m of additional drilling that was completed on the deposit subsequent to an earlier NI43-101 compliant resource estimate calculated by W. A. Hubacheck Consultants Ltd and filed on SEDAR in 2007.
Indicated and Inferred resources have been determined for the DAC Deposit. The deposit is made up of narrow high grade gold-bearing quartz veins occurring within five parallel alteration zones (Figures 1 and 2). These alteration zones carry gold at lower grades than the quartz veins but are significantly wider. The Wardrop report indicates that the additional drilling has expanded the DAC Deposit and significantly increased the contained ounces of gold.
At a cut-off grade of 0.5 g/t gold and using the Inverse Distance Squared (ID2) estimation method, the five gold zones contain an Indicated Resource of about 10.8 million tonnes with an average grade of 1.05 g/t gold (364,000 contained ounces). In addition, the Inferred Resource totals 8.3 million tonnes with an average grade of 0.92 g/t gold (247,000 contained ounces). Table 1 summarises the Resource Estimate at the 0.5 g/t cut-off.
Table 1. DAC Resource Estimation Summary (using ID2 method)
| Class | Zone | Capping Grade (g/t) |
Tonnes Above Capped Grade |
Average Grade (g/t) |
Average True Width (m) |
Au Ounces |
| Indicated | 1 | 7.53 | 1,395,600 | 0.84 | 16 | 37,760 |
| 2 | 19.63 | 2,942,700 | 1.19 | 30 | 112,644 | |
| 3 | 6.66 | 1,370,700 | 0.99 | 12 | 43,675 | |
| 4 | 10.80 | 3,542,600 | 1.06 | 21 | 121,221 | |
| 5 | 14.00 | 1,573,900 | 0.97 | 15 | 49,231 | |
| Total | 10,825,500 | 1.05 | 364,530 | |||
| Inferred | 1 | 7.53 | 971,900 | 0.70 | 16 | 21,724 |
| 2 | 19.63 | 1,841,100 | 1.06 | 30 | 62,487 | |
| 3 | 6.66 | 725,500 | 0.93 | 12 | 21,759 | |
| 4 | 10.80 | 3,085,300 | 0.89 | 21 | 88,767 | |
| 5 | 14.00 | 1,706,600 | 0.96 | 15 | 52,854 | |
| Total | 8,330,400 | 0.92 | 247,590 |
Table 2 Cut-off Sensitivities for the DAC Deposit Resource Estimate
| Class | ID2 Cut-off (Au g/t) |
Tonnes | Average Grade (Au g/t) |
Contained Ounces Au |
| Indicated | 0.2 | 24,275,300 | 0.65 | 509,960 |
| 0.4 | 14,371,800 | 0.90 | 415,780 | |
| 0.5 | 10,825,500 | 1.05 | 364,530 | |
| 0.6 | 8,225,700 | 1.21 | 318,840 | |
| 0.8 | 5,359,200 | 1.48 | 255,370 | |
| 1.0 | 3,858,800 | 1.71 | 212,310 | |
| 1.5 | 1,820,100 | 2.26 | 132,490 | |
| 2.0 | 979,900 | 2.73 | 86,100 | |
| Inferred | 0.2 | 22,541,600 | 0.55 | 401,190 |
| 0.4 | 12,132,100 | 0.78 | 302,500 | |
| 0.5 | 8,330,400 | 0.92 | 247,590 | |
| 0.6 | 5,797,600 | 1.09 | 203,210 | |
| 0.8 | 3,534,600 | 1.35 | 153,420 | |
| 1.0 | 2,521,400 | 1.53 | 124,390 | |
| 1.5 | 1,133,600 | 1.93 | 70,360 | |
| 2.0 | 385,600 | 2.29 | 28,400 |
A cut off grade of 0.5 g/t gold was selected to tabulate the total resources based on the results of similar gold projects located in Ontario and Quebec. In addition, the following parameters were considered; 4:1 stripping ratio, operating costs of $14.30/tonne at 10,000 tonnes per day, long term gold price of $US973/troy ounce, $US to $Cdn conversion of 1.02 and gold recovery of 94%. The resources block considers the mineralization to start at approximately 15 m below surface down to a depth of 400m for the deepest zone (Zone 5).
Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and by definition do not demonstrate economic viability.
Resource Classification and Description Block Model
Several factors were considered in the definition of a resource classification including: National Instrument 43-101 requirements, Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum guidelines, the report author's experience with Archean and Proterozoic gold deposits, and spatial continuity based on variography of the assays within the drill holes.
Individual block models were established in Datamine for all five zones using one parent model as the origin. Drill hole spacing varies, with the majority of the drilling tightly spaced at 25 m. A block size of 5 x 2x 5 m was selected in order to accommodate the more closely spaced drilling and the narrow nature of the mineralization. Sub-celling of the block model was used to allow the parent block to be split once in each direction to more accurately fill the volume of the wireframes, thus more accurately estimate the tonnes in the resource.
The interpolations of the five zones were completed using the Inverse Distance Squared (ID2) estimation method. The global block model statistics for the ID2 model were compared to the Nearest Neighbour (NM) model and the Ordinary Kriging (OK) model. In general there is agreement between the three models and larger discrepancies were reflected as a result of lower drill density in some portions of the model.
A copy of the final Report will be filed on SEDAR within 45 days of the date of this news release.
Figure 1 Cross Section comparison of block model grades with composite grades for the five gold zones making up the DAC Deposit
Figure 2 Plan View comparison of block model grades with composite grades for the five gold zones making up the DAC Deposit
Qualified Person
Todd McCracken, P.Geo, is a Qualified Person ("QP") for purposes of NI 43-101. He is responsible for preparing the Report and the Resource Estimate disclosed in the Report. Mr McCracken is an employee of Wardrop, and independent from the Companies as described in section 1.4 of NI 43-101. He has read and approved the technical disclosure in this press release.
About the Destiny Property
The Destiny Project is under option from Alto Ventures Ltd. Under the terms of the option agreement, PFN can earn a 60% interest in the property over a four year period by completing $3.5 million in exploration expenditures, paying $200,000 and providing a total of 250,000 PFN shares to Alto. The property consists of 177 claims totalling 7,421 ha and is located approximately 100 km by road north of the city of Val-d'Or. The property is accessible by provincial highway 397 which passes through the property.
Pacific North West Capital has fulfilled its obligations for the first two years of the option term as outlined in the agreement.
About Pacific North West Capital Corp
Pacific North West Capital Corp. is a mineral exploration company focused on Platinum Group Metals (PGM), precious and base metals. Management's corporate philosophy is to be a Project Generator, Explorer and Project Operator with the objective of option/joint venturing projects with major and junior mining companies through to production. To that end, Pacific North West Capital's current option/joint ventures agreements are with Anglo Platinum, First Nickel, Alto Ventures and is a major shareholder of Fire River Gold Corp. (www.firerivergold.com)
Pacific North West Capital Corp. Pacific North West Capital is a member of the International Metals Group of Companies. www.internationalmetalsgroup.com
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 Quebec in the Abitibi greenstone belt where it has a number of projects including the Alcudia and Destiny gold properties. In Ontario, the Company is exploring in the Beardmore-Geraldton gold belt and the Coldstream project in the Shebandowan gold district. In the Chilcoten Plateau of British Columbia, the Company is exploring the Chilko project nearby the Newton gold deposit. 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
Website: www.altoventures.com
Rick Mazur,
CEO & Director
ALTO VENTURES LTD.
910-475 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC, V6C 2B3
Tel: 604-689-2599
Fax: 604-689-3609
Email: info@altoventures.com
Website: www.altoventures.com
