Alto seeks partner for Manitoba property

Vancouver — In northern Manitoba, Alto Ventures (ATV-V) has assembled a land package prospective for shear-hosted and iron formation-hosted gold deposits.

The Vancouver-based junior recently acquired the 1.5-sq.-km Oxford claim, adjacent to its own Rusty Zone gold deposit, 160 km southeast of Thompson. At the same time, the company was granted a 55-sq.-km exploration permit surrounding the Oxford Lake claims. The combined land package now totals 84 sq. km.

Alto plans to find a partner with whom to explore the properties. The most advanced target is the Rusty zone gold deposit, which has a historic resource of about 800,000 tonnes grading 6 grams gold per tonne. This estimate was based on a drill program in the 1980s carried out by a major mining company; however, the drill density is not deemed sufficient to meet the reporting standards of National Instrument 43-101.

Alto has not confirmed the resource; instead, it plans to test a strong electromagnetic anomaly associated with the Rusty zone. The anomaly trends east from the Rusty zone, through the Oxford claim, and on to the Blue Jay zone, where previous drilling returned a 2-metre interval grading up to 10 grams gold. The company believes more work is warranted in this area, as previous drilling was limited to shallow, widely spaced holes.

Alto is also exploring the Despinassy gold project near Val d’Or, Que. Recent drilling has focused on the DAC deposit, which consists of four parallel zones of intense alteration and quartz veining.

Highlights of recent drilling include: 14.6 grams gold over 3.7 metres; 7 grams over 7.2 metres; 6.7 grams over 3.1 metres; 6.4 grams over 5.9 metres; and 45.8 grams over 0.4 metre.

Ongoing work at Despinassy is aimed at defining a resource in the DAC deposit and testing nearby targets.

Alto can acquire a 70% interest in Despinassy from Cameco (CCO-T) by paying $700,000 over five years. The remainder is held by Commander Resources (CMD-V).

London-listed Anglo Pacific Group (APF-L) holds shares and warrants equivalent to 26.4% of the issued and outstanding shares of Alto Ventures.