ATW to Acquire Exploration Property in Western Australia: Financial News

ATW to Acquire Exploration Property in Western Australia
Wednesday August 20, 2008 9:01 am ET

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Aug. 20, 2008) - ATW Venture Corp. (TSX VENTURE:ATW - News; FRANKFURT:A3N - News), ("ATW" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce that it has entered into an Assignment Agreement ("the Assignment Agreement") to acquire up to a 90% interest in the Prominent Hill Gunbarrel Project ("Gunbarrel") located in the North Eastern goldfields of Western Australia, approximately 220 kilometres east of ATW's 100% owned Burnakura Gold Mine Project.

The Gunbarrel Project includes a total of 98 square kilometers (km2) of mineral tenements covering 10 kilometres of strike along the northern extension of the Archean Eureka Greenstone Belt. The project is located 450 km north of Perth and 110 kilometres east of the gold mining centre of Wiluna.

The Gunbarrel Project is prospective for gold, nickel sulphides and associated platinum group elements (PGEs) and other base metals. The property is directly north along strike of property owned by Australian Stock Exchange listed Cullen Resources Limited ("Cullen") and in joint venture with BHP Billiton ("BHPB") where previous reverse circulation (RC) drilling of the Central Zone at Southern Prospect returned encouraging intersections including:

- 2 metres at 10.0 grams per tonne gold (g/t) from 50 metres depth;

- 7 metres at 9.0 g/t gold from 116 metres; and

- 9 metres at 6.2 g/t gold from 98 metres.

Gold mineralization occurs in shallow dipping quartz lode zones hosted by mafic rocks. Interpretation of airborne magnetic data indicates numerous other untested gold targets across the project. In 2005, the Cullen and BHP Billiton joint venture announced that a zone of combined nickel, copper and PGE mineralization has been confirmed over a strike length of approximately seven kilometres. Subsequent diamond drilling by Cullen/BHPB intersected disseminated and massive nickel and copper sulphide mineralization.

Pursuant to a purchase agreement between Robin Cooper ("Cooper") and Jixing Ma ("Ma") (collectively the "Vendors") and an Assignment Agreement between Ma and the Company, ATW has the right and option to acquire up to a 90% interest in Gunbarrel in consideration of certain cash and share payments and the assumption of certain obligations and requirements.

ATW will initially acquire a 51% interest in Gunbarrel for the payment of $140,000 to Ma, and subject to regulatory approval, the issuance of 2,000,000 common shares. Subsequent to the acquisition of the 51%, ATW can increase its ownership as follows:

- Earn an additional 14%, bringing ATW ownership to 65%, by completing $150,000 in exploration expenditures on Gunbarrel.

- Earn an additional 15%, bringing ATW ownership to 80%, by completing a further $200,000 in exploration expenditures on Gunbarrel bringing cumulative exploration expenditures to $350,000.

- Purchase a further 10%, bringing ATW ownership to 90%, by making a cash payment of $250,000 to Cooper.

- Finally, the parties agree to negotiate in good faith over the remaining 10% interest in Gunbarrel, should the Vendors be interested in selling or ATW be interested in buying the remaining 10% interest.

ATW anticipates that the first phase of exploration at Gunbarrel will include the acquisition and interpretation of remote sensed magnetic and electromagnetic (EM) data, followed by a surface geologic program of soil sampling, outcrop prospecting and follow-up of soil, geochemical, EM or magnetic targets identified.

ATW COMPLETES 2008 AMARILLO DRILL PROGRAM AND EXITS ARGENTINA

ATW reports completion of the 2008 drill program at the Company's Amarillo copper-gold project in Argentina.

The 2008 drill program consisted of 4 core holes, ATW-AM-05 to ATW-AM-08, totaling 1435.2 metres. The goal of the program was to test several prospective areas for both deep porphyry copper mineralization and epithermal gold mineralization.

Of the four drill holes completed, only drill holes ATW-AM-06 and ATW-AM-07 intersected broad intervals of anomalous gold and copper values. In particular, ATW-AM-07 intersected 65 metres of 0.23 ppm gold from a depth of 65 to 111 meters within a broader zone of anomalous gold from 45 to 175 meters. Drill holes ATW-AM-05 and ATW-AM-08 encountered no significant mineralization.

ATW further reports that it has terminated its option on the Amarillo property in Argentina with Marifil Mines Ltd. Following two years of exploration, including two drill programs, ATW has decided to focus its human resources and capital on its projects in Western Australia. The Company will hold no residual interest in the Amarillo property.

ATW VENTURE CORP.

Brent Butler, President & CEO

"This news release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements."

The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.