Alto Ventures Recovers Kimberlite Indicator Minerals on the West Fisher Claims Northwest of the Pikoo Diamond Discovery, Northern Saskatchewan

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - April 1, 2015) - Alto Ventures Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:ATV) is pleased to announce the recovery of kimberlite indicator minerals (KIM) from the West Fisher claims, located 12 km northwest of North Arrow Minerals Inc.'s Pikoo diamond discovery in northern Saskatchewan (see Figure 1). North Arrow recently reported discoveries of three new kimberlites from their 2015 drilling program on the Pikoo property (see North Arrow's news release dated March 30, 2015).

Alto's CEO, Rick Mazur stated, "The recovery of KIMs by Alto on the West Fisher claims is a strong indication that the diamond potential extends to the northwest of Pikoo. The recently announced discovery of three more kimberlites on the North Arrow Pikoo Property and delineation of multiple kimberlite indicator mineral dispersion trains on Alto's adjoining GEFA Property provide further evidence that the North Sask Craton is emerging as a new diamond district in Canada."

Twelve of the 37 till samples collected from the West Fisher claims contain Cr-rich chromite KIM grains. Within these, there are five chromite grains from 4 different samples that are of particular interest as they contain very high chromium, ranging from 62.08% to 66.33% Cr₂O₃, which is above the usual 62% threshold for diamond inclusions.

The results reported herein are from samples collected as part of Alto's 2014 till sampling program which covered these claims as well as Alto's GEFA Property. The GEFA Property lies immediately adjacent to the Pikoo diamond discovery to the east. Results from the 2014 sampling program identified multiple kimberlite indicator dispersion trains containing Cr-pyrope garnets, Mg-ilmenites and chromites (see Alto news release dated February 23, 205). One of the KIM trains on the eastern half of GEFA features an eclogite garnet comparable to most eclogite inclusions in diamond (see Alto news release dated January 22, 2015). This previously announced dispersion train also includes a chromite similar to chromite inclusions in diamond, Cr-pyrope garnet, Mg-ilmenites (picroilmenites) and a second orange garnet comparable to Cr-poor megacrysts (a distinctive component of some kimberlites). Additional KIM samples worthy of follow-up are located in the western half of the GEFA property. Alto plans a summer program of further KIM sampling, prospecting and ground geophysics to verify targets identified by a high resolution aeromagnetic survey.