El Niño Ventures Inc. Closes First Tranche of Non-Brokered Private Placement

VANCOUVER, Oct. 5, 2012 /CNW/ - El Niño Ventures Inc. ("ELN" and the "Company") (TSX.V: ELN) (Frankfurt: E7Q.N) (OTCQX: ELNOF) is pleased to announce that it has closed the first tranche of its non-brokered flow-through and non flow-through private placement for gross proceeds of $1,351,452.

The Company issued 5,166,133 non flow-through units (NFT Units) at a price of $0.09 per NFT Unit.  Each NFT Unit consists of one common share and one-half of one non-transferable share purchase warrant ("Warrant"). Each whole Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one common share of the Company at a price of $0.15 per share for a period of 18 months from closing subject to an accelerated expiry, such expiry being accelerated to 30 days in the event the Company's shares have closed at or above a price of $0.25 per share for 10 consecutive trading days on the TSX Venture Exchange.

In addition, the Company issued 8,865,000 flow-through units ("FT Unit") at $0.10 per FT Unit.  Each FT Unit consists of one common flow-through share and one-half of one non-transferable, non flow-through, share purchase warrant.  Each whole Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one non flow-through common share of the Company at a price of $0.16 per share for a period of 18 months from closing subject to an accelerated expiry, such expiry being accelerated to 30 days in the event the Company's shares have closed at or above a price of $0.26 per share for 10 consecutive trading days on the TSX Venture Exchange.

The proceeds of this private placement will be used to fund the 2012 exploration budget at the Murray Brook Polymetallic project in Bathurst, New Brunswick and general working capital.

The Company has paid $24,407.50 and 166,600 warrants in finder's fees in connection with this first tranche closing of the private placement.

All of the securities to be issued by the Company in connection with this private placement will be subject to a hold period which expires February 3, 2013, four months and one day after the closing date.

About El Niño Ventures Inc.

El Niño Ventures Inc. is an international exploration company, focused on exploring for zinc, copper, gold, silver and lead in New Brunswick, Canada and copper/cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo ("DRC").

About El Niño Ventures Inc. Bathurst Projects

El Niño Ventures Inc. has two active projects in the Bathurst Mining Camp.

1.     Bathurst Mining Camp Project - Bathurst Option Join Venture (BOJV)

The BOJV project initially comprised of 4,712 claims owned 50% El Nino/50% Xstrata Zinc and 2907 claims wholly owned by Xstrata Zinc, together with an area of interest clause in which El Nino and Zstrata Zinc hold equal interest. The Tri‐Party Agreement (BOJV) with El Nino Ventures, Xstrata Zinc & Votorantim Metals ("VM) Canada (wholly owned subsidiary of Votorantim Metais, the 2^nd largest mining company in Brazil) provides VM Canada the opportunity to incur exploration expenditures of $10 million over a period of 5 years to earn a 50% interest. VM Canada may further increase its interest to 70% by spending an additional $10 million over 2 years. VM Canada has spent approx. $6.5 to date and have completed more than 6,000 metres of exploration drilling of the 12,000 metres planned. In September 2012 VM Canada contracted Daignos Inc of Brossard, Quebec to complete a comprehensive study utilizing their proprietary software to identify exploration targets within the area of interest that show high statistical probability of mineralization. It is the BOJV agreement that provided ELN with the option to participate in the Murray Brook Project and any new additional acquisitions in the area of interest.

2.      Murray Brook Project - Option JV/Votorantim Metals Canada

The Murray Brook project is a polymetallic, massive sulphide deposit.  Historically, the deposit is the fifth largest in the Bathurst Mining Camp, New Brunswick. The Murray Brook property is located 60 km west of Bathurst.  It is supported by excellent infrastructure, including paved roads, grid electricity and communities to provide goods, services and skilled labour (Figure 1).  To date, more than 28,000 metres of drilling has been completed with encouraging results.  In February 2012, NI43-101 resource estimation was announced (see news release dated Feb. 28, 2012). The technical report is filed on SEDAR.com and also available on ELN's website. An updated NI43-101 is slated for release by the end of 2012, with plans for a PEA/Scoping study in early 2013.

Currently, El Nino and Votorantim each hold a 35% interest for a total of 70% in the Murray Brook Polymetallic project in Bathurst, New Brunswick. Through a Purchase Sell Agreement, which has been accepted by the owners, both El Nino and Votorantim have an option to earn-in for the remaining 30% interest, resulting in both companies having a 50% interest in the Murray Brook project.

By funding its share of the ongoing costs for the project, El Nino is in the enviable position for a junior to be in a 50/50 Joint Venture with a major producer on a project that is moving rapidly through the development stages.

Although the terms of the Participation Agreement provided for a three-year period to earn the initial 50% and two years to earn the additional 20%, ELN and VMC completed their earn-in in less than 18 months. Encouraging drill results and a very positive NI 43-101 resource estimation accelerated the exploration and development programs and is a testament to both ELN and Votorantim's commitment to aggressively advancing the project (see ELN press releases dated: February 28 and May 17, June 5, June 27, July 17, July 30, August 14 and August 28, 2012).

The company is currently completing the 2012 $3 million exploration program that included:

• $2.5 million exploration a the Murray brook deposit, 97 holes drilled for a total of 18,500 metres
• $500,000 exploration at the adjacent Camel Back property
• Updated resource calculation and initial metallurgical study

A recently completed (February 2012) NI 43‐101 Mineral Resource Estimate for the Murray Brook Zn‐Cu‐Pb‐Ag‐Au deposit, which includes explanatory footnotes, is presented below. The resource estimate is based on various assumptions regarding mining methods, processing and metal recoveries, payable metal NSR credits and metal prices. This estimate makes no provision for capital costs to mine the deposit, nor mill the material mined, as resources are not reserves and the reader should not presume economic viability. The Technical Report on the 2012 NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate is filed on SEDAR.com and is available on ELN's website.

Metallurgical test-work of bulk sample material from the Murray Brook deposit is currently underway at RPC Laboratories (Fredericton, New Brunswick), under the direction of Votorantim Metals Canada Inc., operators of the Murray Brook Project. Three holes were drilled to provide sample materials for metallurgical tests. The test-work is focused on determining potential metal recoveries based on a recommended metals recovery process flowsheet which, subsequently, will form the basis for a small scale metallurgical pilot plant program.  Metallurgical results, along with a revised resource estimate which will incorporate 2012 drill results, will form the basis of a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA or Scoping Study) study to be completed in Q1 2013.

Figure 1- Land tenure map showing the location of optioned properties and proximity to infrastructure in the Bathurst Mining Camp.

http://www.elninoventures.com/s/NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=551566

Kasala Copper-Cobalt Project - DRC

The Kasala Copper/Cobalt project is located in the Central African Copper belt, approximately 25 km from Minmetals Mining Resources' Kinsevere Mine (formerly owned by Anvil Mining). The Kinsevere mine has a resource of 24.8 million tons grading 3.75% Cu. Drill intercepts on the Kasala project of up to 232 metres grading 3.28% Cu. The project is currently under Force Majeure pending outcome of arbitration in British Columbia and litigation in the DRC.

Qualified Persons Statement

This news release has been reviewed and approved for technical content by Ali Hassanalizadeh M.Sc. P.Geo., a qualified Person under the provisions of National Instrument 43‐101.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

"John Oness"

John Oness, COO & Director

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture     Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Note:  this release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties.  These statements may differ materially from actual future events or results and are based on current expectations or beliefs.  For this purpose, statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements.  In addition, forward-looking statements include statements in which the Company uses words such as "continue", "efforts", "expect", "believe", "anticipate", "confident", "intend", "strategy", "plan", "will", "estimate", "project", "goal", "target", "prospects", "optimistic" or similar expressions.  These statements by their nature involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially depending on a variety of important factors, including, among others, the Company's ability and continuation of efforts to timely and completely make available adequate current public information, additional or different regulatory and legal requirements and restrictions that may be imposed, and other factors as may be discussed in the documents filed by the Company on SEDAR (www.sedar.com), including the most recent reports that identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements.  The Company does not undertake any obligation to review or confirm analysts' expectations or estimates or to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.  Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

SOURCE El Nino Ventures Inc.