Preliminary Drilling Underway at Nueva California

VANCOUVER , Oct. 9 /CNW/ - David Cass , President of Focus Ventures Ltd. (TSX-V: FCV), is pleased to announce that it has commenced a short diamond drill program at its Nueva California project located in north-central Peru , some 35 km north of the Pierina gold mine.

The purpose of this initial drilling is to provide a clearer understanding of the geology and structural controls on the high grade gold mineralization mined historically, and provide geotechnical information, particularly regarding the thick gravels that conceal most of the property. The program is also anticipated to verify some of the historical sample grades assayed by the mine from the underground workings which could not be verified by Focus, and importantly, test for low grade mineralization within wall rocks.

The initial program will comprise a minimum of 400 m within the upper mine area where the mineralization is completely concealed due to gravel cover and the geology is poorly understood due to inaccessible underground workings.

Information gained will be used to design a major drill program to fully test the property for bulk tonnage mineralization.

Geophysical Survey

Quantec Geoscience was commissioned to undertake 4 lines totaling 6.6 km of Induced Polarization and Resistivity readings over the mine area. The purpose of the survey was to give a better understanding of the depth of gravel cover and structural geology over the mine area to assist in the location of drillholes. Results have shown that the upper mine levels show a distinct geophysical response than that seen in the lower mine levels. Geophysical plans and 3D sections can be found on the Focus website www.focusventuresltd.com.

The upper mineralized zone is located in the upper part of a gently-dipping moderate-weak resistivity package and weak chargeability anomaly, and supports the concept whereby the upper mineralized zone may have been displaced by a low angle post-mineral normal fault at depth. This interpretation will be tested by the current drilling. The resistivity anomaly is approximately 400 m in width and 150 m in depth, and apparently thickening to the south-east.

The lower mineralized zone under the lowermost workings is characterized by high conductivity with coincident high chargeability that forms a contiguous anomaly that spans N-S across all four lines over a distance of greater than 400 meters. The anomaly, which is open on both ends and to depth, begins some 50-150 m below the surface. The high chargeability is likely mapping the presence of sulphides. The cause of the high conductivity is less certain and could be associated with the graphitic nature of the rocks.

    
    Background
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The Nueva California Property is located in the Cordillera Blanca, in north-central Peru at an altitude of 3,300 m a.s.l. approximately 35 km from Barrick Gold's Pierina mine. Artisanal underground and open pit mining operations commenced in 1983 which exploited a series of parallel northwest-southeast trending epithermal gold-silver mineralized zones with a reported head grade of 8 g/t Au and 120 g/t Ag. Gold and silver are produced on site via a small heap leach circuit and recovery plant.

The mine, which has never been drilled or systematically explored, has potential to host bulk-tonnage gold-silver mineralization within intensely altered granodiorite wallrocks and high grade gold mineralization in sheared argillites.

Underground and open pit mining over the last 26 years has defined a mineralized zone some 700 m wide, 250 m along strike and open, and to depths of up to 100 m. Apart from a small portion in the center of the deposit, the existing mine is exploiting mineralization that is concealed by gravel overburden which is estimated to be over 60 m thick in places.

Focus has completed a full digital compilation of all available historic mine data including over 750 mine plans and assay data from approximately 7,500 sample points. This information has been compiled for the very first time into a 3-dimensional model which provides a unique perspective on the geology of the underground workings, and a much clearer understanding of the historical gold grade distribution.

The results of the work, combined with geological and structural mapping, indicate that the Nueva California is a robust and long-lived hydrothermal system that formed a range of mineralization and alteration styles within strongly altered intrusive and sedimentary host rocks.

    
    Qualified Person
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The scientific and technical information in this release was prepared under the supervision of Mr. David Cass , Focus's President, who is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia, and a "Qualified Person" in accordance with NI 43-101.

About Focus Ventures

Focus Ventures is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, and has recently assembled an experienced technical team of geologists and consultants with superior geographical knowledge and operational capabilities to search out quality gold projects in Peru . Focus's strategy is to identify and acquire early-stage gold projects that show potential to become mines.

    
    ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

        "David Cass"
    David Cass, President

    Investor relations: Erin Ostrom
    Symbol: TSXV-FCV
    Shares Issued: 19.2-million

    Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory
    Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
    accuracy of this release
    

For further information: on Focus Ventures Ltd., please call [phone] or visit our web site (www.focusventuresltd.com)