Ventana Announces Additional Drill Results-New Footwall Area of La Bodega Zone Intersects 12 Metres of 16.78 Grams Per Tonne Gold and La Baja Developing Into Meaningful Extension of La Mascota

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire - Nov. 16, 2010) - Ventana Gold Corp. (TSX: VEN) ("Ventana" or the "Company") is pleased to announce drill results from ten additional holes, of which nine are discussed, at the La Bodega gold project in Colombia. A complete listing of drill intercepts is available on the Company's website at www.ventanagold.com.

Two of the new holes (302 and 319) are located on the recently discovered Aserradero zone southeast of and parallel to La Mascota. Two holes (312 and 322) are located in the recently acquired La Baja property, situated between La Bodega and El Cuatro. One hole (327) is an extension of the La Bodega zone toward the south. Three of the additional holes reported here (324, 333 and 334) are infill holes in the La Mascota zone and one hole (332) is on the Las Mercedes zone. Refer to the attached map for details. The cross sections can be found on the Company's website under the La Bodega overview.

Results continue to show expansion potential at Aserradero. The latest drill intercepts on this new zone returned more encouraging results with Hole 302 in section 0150E returning two vein intercepts of 8.0 metres grading 4.70 grams per tonne gold and 8.02 metres grading 4.84 grams per tonne gold. Hole 302 was drilled down-dip of previously reported Hole 294 which intercepted 5.0 metres grading 23.18 grams per tonne gold. Roughly 250 metres of strike length at Aserradero has been tested in the initial scout exploration holes and further follow-up and step-out drilling is in progress.

Exploration results from the two more holes on the La Baja mineral tenement continue to demonstrate that the La Mascota structure extends to the southwest and onto the El Cuatro mineral tenement. Hole 312 intercepted 24 metres grading 3.4 grams per tonne gold and 75.5 grams per tonne silver. Additionally, this hole intercepted 1.0 metre grading 1,000 grams per tonne gold and 330 grams per tonne silver. Hole 322 intercepted 19 metres at 4.41 grams per tonne gold and 85 grams per tonne silver. The higher silver grades in these holes provide further indication that silver grades are increasing to the southwest.

Hole 327 on section 350E at the La Bodega zone was drilled in a new footwall area to the south of the main mineralized body and encountered a high grade structure that returned 12.0 metres grading 16.78 grams per tonne gold, including 1.4 metres grading 93.10 grams per tonne gold.

Infill drilling on 25 metre centres in La Mascota continues to support the consistency and higher grade nature of the mineralization in this main zone. In section 9825E, Hole 333 returned 36.0 metres of 4.57 grams per tonne gold and Hole 334 on section 9575E returned 19.86 metres grading 17.49 grams per tonne gold, including 3.05 metres grading 71.39 grams per tonne gold.

Hole 332 is the first drill hole from the recently reactivated program at Las Mercedes. This was a step-out exploration hole drilled on section 9950E at Las Mercedes and it cut a series of thin mineralized structures with one of these returning 2.0 metres grading 4.26 grams per tonne gold. So far, the Las Mercedes structure has been subjected to limited exploration. The Company will increase its understanding of the drip, strike and grade tenor of this structure as drilling progresses.

Drilling continues at the La Bodega project with 10 drills, eight of which are engaged in resource expansion or exploration of newer target areas.

Select intercepts from the reported drill holes are reported below:

Drill Hole # From
(metres) To
(metres) Drill
Intercept
(metres) True
Width Gold
(g/t) Silver
(g/t) Copper
(%)
DDH-10-LB-302 148.00 156.00 8.00 5.1 4.70 1.67 0.02
INCLUDES 227.00 229.00 2.00 1.2 16.73 139.90 0.06
316.00 318.00 2.00 1.2 3.43 2.79 0.03
DDH-10-LB-312 186.80 189.00 2.20 1.4 4.67 213.91 0.15
192.02 194.10 2.08 1.4 2.68 32.90 0.03
261.00 262.00 1.00 0.7 1,000.00 330.00 0.06
360.00 384.00 24.00 15.6 3.40 75.51 0.14
INCLUDES 360.00 365.00 5.00 3.2 5.33 83.20 0.20
AND 374.00 377.00 3.00 1.9 7.21 251.33 0.31
DDH-10-LB-319 113.00 117.00 4.00 2.6 2.97 5.81 0.02
126.00 128.01 2.01 1.3 2.77 6.80 0.03
188.00 189.00 1.00 0.6 4.71 7.76 0.11
DDH-10-LB-322 130.00 132.00 2.00 1.6 5.34 4.00 0.02
175.00 194.00 19.00 15.4 4.41 81.00 0.07
INCLUDES 175.00 178.00 3.00 2.4 14.63 226.00 0.08
DDH-10-LB-324 7.62 9.00 1.38 0.8 3.79 4.48 0.02
104.00 106.00 2.00 1.2 4.12 34.62 0.66
113.01 115.30 2.29 1.4 2.12 37.52 0.25
153.00 154.90 1.90 1.1 3.08 33.24 0.18
164.00 173.90 9.90 5.9 2.59 33.24 0.18
199.00 201.00 2.00 1.2 3.64 19.70 0.06
223.00 225.00 2.00 1.2 3.37 4.12 0.01
230.20 237.25 7.05 4.1 6.68 12.03 0.03
261.00 265.00 4.00 2.4 11.42 35.17 0.34
271.00 290.00 19.00 11.3 6.20 32.02 0.34
INCLUDES 285.00 290.00 5.00 3.0 14.16 54.90 0.73
302.00 303.00 1.00 0.6 4.21 30.90 0.04
308.10 318.00 9.90 5.9 6.18 29.28 0.19
375.90 383.00 7.10 4.2 3.52 2.90 0.02
DDH-10-LB-327 209.00 210.30 1.30 0.9 2.89 5.56 0.01
243.00 255.00 12.00 8.3 16.78 1.30 0.01
INCLUDES 245.00 247.00 2.00 1.4 93.10 2.87 0.01
278.00 283.00 5.00 3.5 3.02 0.25 0.01
DDH-10-LB-332 73.00 74.00 1.00 0.8 2.16 2.71 0.08
262.00 264.00 2.00 1.5 4.26 4.62 0.01
DDH-10-LB-333 154.30 156.30 2.00 1.4 5.64 120.90 0.38
167.00 169.00 2.00 1.4 2.98 36.60 0.22
178.00 214.00 36.00 25.8 4.57 27.00 0.18
INCLUDES 206.00 208.00 2.00 1.4 24.71 26.03 0.25
DDH-10-LB-334 68.05 69.08 1.03 0.7 3.39 18.10 0.03
133.14 153.00 19.86 13.4 17.49 39.16 0.34
INCLUDES 138.68 141.73 3.05 2.1 71.39 61.00 1.07
173.50 196.29 22.79 15.3 9.55 40.31 0.28
INCLUDES 191.00 196.29 5.29 3.5 33.51 125.07 0.62

Drill intercepts are based on a 0.5 gram/tonne gold cut-off with no upper cut. Drill intercept lengths are down-hole lengths of mineralization with true widths calculated assuming a 70 degree dip for the mineralized structure.


Review by Qualified Person, Quality Control and Reports

The results of Ventana's drilling program have been reviewed, verified and compiled by Jon Lehmann, L.P.G., a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101). Mr. Lehmann has over 25 years of mineral exploration experience, is a Licensed Professional Geologist in the State of Washington and a member in good standing of the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.

To ensure reliable sample results Ventana has a rigorous QA/QC program in place that monitors the chain-of-custody of samples and includes the insertion of blanks, duplicates, and certified reference standards in each batch of samples. Core is photographed and sawed in half with one half retained in a secured facility for verification purposes. Sample preparation (crushing and pulverizing) is performed at an independent local laboratory established by a joint effort between the regional environmental permitting agency and the German Geological Survey, and at the Colombian preparation laboratory of ALS Chemex Laboratories. Prepared samples are direct-shipped to ALS Chemex Laboratories in Lima, Peru, an ISO 9001:2000 certified laboratory, for analysis.

Independent NI 43-101 technical reports have been prepared by Samuel Engineering, Inc., dated May 1, 2010 for the La Bodega project and by EurGeol Miller O'Prey, P.Geo., dated June 14, 2008 for the nearby California-Vetas project, to provide an updated review of the exploration activities that have occurred on the projects. These reports are posted on Ventana's website at www.ventanagold.com.


About Ventana

Ventana is a Vancouver-based mineral exploration and development company with mineral rights to 4,590 hectares of exploration property in northeastern Colombia. The Company's flagship La Bodega project in Columbia contains multiple high-grade zones of gold, silver and copper mineralization occurring in north- northwest dipping parallel-sheeted vein zones, breccias and mineralized faults within a broad, northeast trending regional fault zone. The La Bodega project has excellent road access and is close to existing infrastructure including power and water. The Company is conducting an aggressive exploration program and is advancing engineering studies to develop the deposit.

Ventana's shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol VEN.



Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-looking Information

Certain of the statements made and information contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. All information and statements which are not historical fact constitute forward-looking information and, in many cases, can be identified by words such as "may", "will", "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "potential", or other similar terminology. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is based on the reasonable expectations and beliefs of management as at the date of this press release and involves numerous assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties, both general and specific to Ventana and the industry in which the Company operates. Such assumptions, risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to future prices of gold, the factual results of current exploration, development and mining activities, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be evaluated as well as those factors disclosed in Ventana's documents filed from time to time with the securities regulators in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results, performance or achievements of the Company, or industry results, may vary materially from those described in this press release. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Except as otherwise required by law, Ventana does not intend to and assumes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, plans, events or otherwise.



For more information, please contact

Ventana Gold Corp.
Letitia Cornacchia
VP Investor Relations
+1 (416) 644-5084
lcornacchia@ventanagold.com
www.ventanagold.com