Ventura Gold Reports First Quarter Financial Results: Financial News

Ventura Gold Reports First Quarter Financial Results
Wednesday September 3, 2008 8:40 am ET

SCOTTSDALE, AZ--(MARKET WIRE)--Sep 3, 2008 -- Ventura Gold Corp. (CDNX:VGO.V - News) (the "Company") ended the first quarter at June 30, 2008, with approximately $5.8 million in cash and positive working capital of $6.2 million. The Company also had approximately $1.3 million in long-term investments and $0.9 million in market value of securities held for trading for a total of $2.2 million in such strategic investments. (All amounts are reported in US dollars except as otherwise indicated.)

The Company continued to make significant progress in implementing its business strategy, including the following highlights for the three month period ended June 30, 2008:

 
--  Continued to drill on the Inmaculada gold property in Peru to further
    evaluate the well-mineralized gold-silver zone within the Angela vein at
    Inmaculada along a strike length of greater than 500 meters ("m") and to a
    depth of up to 300m below surface. Significant drill assay results were
    obtained in a second-phase core drilling program totalling 1,766m in eight
    drill holes as announced subsequent to year-end in a June 12, 2008 news
    release. Additional drilling is ongoing.

--  Invested $300,000 to acquire 1.2 million shares of Caribbean Copper &
    Gold Corp., a private unlisted exploration company with properties in
    Colombia and Panama.

--  Announced that due to corporate priorities the Company is actively
    seeking joint venture partners to advance its Del Oro, Gold Gulch and
    Cottonwood Peak gold exploration properties in Nevada and Arizona.

--  Issued on April 10, 2008, 125,418 common shares (representing a
    payment of $50,000) to Columbus Gold as the first payment toward earning a
    51% interest in Columbus Gold's Del Oro property.

Financial and Exploration Activities Overview

During the three month period ended June 30, 2008, the Company incurred a net loss of $92,138 primarily due to increased administrative expenses arising from a significant acceleration of exploration drilling at the Inmaculada project in Peru, together with an unrealized loss on securities held for trading. During the same period last year, the Company earned net income of $273,626 which resulted primarily from an unrealized gain in value of securities held for trading and a foreign exchange gain. The Company has filed its interim unaudited financial statements and management discussion and analysis (MD&A) for the three and nine month period ended December 31, 2007 on SEDAR.

Capitalized expenditures totalled $1.05 million in mineral property and deferred exploration cash costs on Cottonwood Peak and Del Oro in Nevada, Gold Gulch in Arizona and Inmaculada in Peru. The Company also acquired $300,000 in long-term investments consisting of 1.2 million shares of Caribbean Copper and Gold.

 
Table 1: Summary of Quarterly Results (unaudited, except for periods ending
 March 31)
                                     Three Months Ended
                    ======================================================
                      June 30,      March 31,      Dec 31,      Sept 30,
                        2008          2008          2007          2007
                    ------------  ------------  ------------  ------------

Total assets        $ 13,875,840  $ 13,843,819  $ 12,327,657  $  7,780,828
Working capital        6,229,446     7,558,445     6,587,528     3,895,982
Shareholders'
 equity               13,429,617    13,411,147    12,010,409     7,313,707
Revenues, interest
 income                   27,790        48,599        27,531        61,717
Net income (loss)        (92,138)     (783,245)     (482,695)     (314,641)
Earnings (loss) per
 share                     (0.01)        (0.01)        (0.01)        (0.01)
                    ============  ============  ============  ============

Outlook

The Company has planned exploration programs through March 31, 2009 which total approximately $2.1 million, mainly focusing on the Inmaculada silver-gold project in Peru. This expenditure assumes that all of the various planned programs will be successful and require immediate follow-up. It is anticipated that the available cash reserves will be sufficient to finance the Company's planned exploration and investment activities for the current fiscal year.

At the completion of the required program of 15,000 meters of drilling at the Inmaculada gold-silver property in Peru (scheduled to be completed by early 2009), the Company will have met the drilling requirements to earn-in and acquire a 51% joint venture interest in the project. At completion of the Company's earn-in, Hochschild has a one-time "back in" right for 90 days to acquire an additional 11% interest in the project (60% in total) for consideration of three times the Company's accumulated exploration expenditures (estimated expenditures of approximately $4.0 million upon completion of the 15,000m of drilling) on the project. If Hochschild exercises the back-in option, the project will go forward with the Company owning a 40% joint venture interest plus approximately $12 million in cash from Hochschild. If Hochschild does not elect to exercise the back-in option, the project will go forward with the Company owning a 51% interest and a right to acquire up to a 70% interest upon completion of certain feasibility study and financing criteria.

About Ventura

Ventura Gold Corp. is a United States-based precious metals exploration and development company with a business plan to a) acquire, evaluate and develop high-grade, low-cost gold-silver and base-metal deposits with a view to establishing strategic alliances and/or joint ventures with larger companies, and b) acquire strategic investments and/or alliances with pre-IPO exploration companies and listed junior companies where Ventura believes those companies and management have the resources and expertise to optimize the potential value of their asset bases. In addition to exploration projects in Peru, Arizona and Nevada, Ventura has approximately $2.2 million in strategic investments in emerging exploration companies with exposure to projects in Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Indonesia and Africa.

The TSX Venture Exchange neither approves nor disapproves the information contained in this News Release.

Cautionary Statement: Some of the statements contained in this release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities law requirements. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from that anticipated, expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results include risks and uncertainties such as: risks relating to completing drilling targets and estimates of time of completing earn-ins; obtaining mining and environmental permits; risk of commodity price fluctuations; political and regulatory risks; and other risks and uncertainties detailed in the Company's Renewal Annual Information Form for the year ended March 31, 2008 filed on SEDAR. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.