The Ontario Mineral Exploration Review ATV
While many junior mining com-
panies are seeking fame and
fortune in far-flung foreign
lands, one Canadian junior, Vancouver-
based Alto Ventures Ltd., has built a portfo-
lio of prospective projects here at home in
mining-friendly Canada.
Alto, which also maintains an exploration
office in Sudbury, Ontario, holds a roster of
numerous projects located in Quebec, Ontario
and Manitoba, but their focus is on two;
the Beardmore-Geraldton area of Ontario
and Despinassy in Quebec. Despinassy is
75.5% owned by the company and two of
Beardmore-Geraldton’s three area projects are
being developed as joint ventures.
Alto’s aim is to seek out high-risk, high-
reward early and mid-stage exploration
projects, and then to acquire joint venture
partners who will be able to bear a signifi-
cant portion of exploration and development
costs in return for a portion of the project.
They have focused the search for such proj-
ects in areas that have had a past history of
production but have been inactive of late
and those areas with geologic characteris-
tics similar to gold producing belts. Where
appropriate, the company also utilizes gov-
ernment incentive programs that help offset
some of the risks associated with early stage
exploration programs, such as Quebec’s
exploration rebate program which recently
returned $192,000 to the company.
One of Alto’s most important properties is
the Despinassy Project located in Despinassy
Township, about 75 km northeast of the city
of Val D’Or, and lying within the Archaen
age Abitibi Greenstone Belt in the Superior
Province of Quebec. Alto was able to release
a NI 43-101 compliant Resource Estimate
at Despinassy in January, 2007 which con-
tained 167,000 tonnes of Indicated Resource
grading 6.88 grams per tonne (gpt) gold at
the DAC deposit plus an additional Inferred
Resource of 445,000 tonnes grading 4.46 gpt.
The DAC Deposit remains open along strike
and to depth and it is only one of several
significant gold occurrences, including the
recently discovered Darla Zone.
The goal at Despinassy is to locate high-
grade vein-style mineralization similar to
that found at the Val D’Or gold camp in the
area known as the Abitibi Greenstone Belt
which has seen historic production of over
150 million ounces of gold. Exploration
results to date lead company geologists to
believe that there is the potential for more
than one million ounces of gold at the
property. Drilling is planned for the winter
months of January/February 2008 with the
specific goal of discovering areas of gold
resources at shallow depths.
Another area of importance to Alto is the
Beardmore-Geraldton Gold Belt north of
Lake Superior which includes three specific
projects named Mud Lake, Cote-Archie
Lake and Greenoaks. The company has
been successful in their search for joint
venture partners at both Mud Lake and
Cote-Archie Lake, and proceeding with
Greenoaks as a wholly-owned project.
Mud Lake is joint-ventured with Wescan
Despinassy and Beardmore-Geraldton
Gold Belt projects hold substantial promise
By Leonard Melman
Despinassy core showing visible gold
Alto Ventures
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Ontario Mineral Exploration Review 2