ASHBURTON VENTURES PREPARES TO DRILL THE RED LAKE
CHUKUNI PROPERTY



January 4, 2010




, VANCOUVER, B.C.



– ASHBURTON VENTURES INC.


(ABR-TSX:V)
(“Ashburton” or the “Company”)

is pleased to announce
that it is implementing a 1,000 meter drill program on its Chukuni Property
situated in the Red Lake Gold Camp, Ontario. The priority target is a nearly 10
meter wide shear zone which historically produced assays up to 16 g/t gold,
drilling is anticipated to begin on January 4th, 2010. Ashburton
Ventures has an option agreement with Solitaire Minerals to acquire a
60-per-cent interest in the Chukuni property.

The 2009 summer
exploration program on the Chukuni property involved an Induced Polarization (IP)
survey with follow up field work and sampling of the accessible IP anomalies.  Due to the lack of outcrop, Mobile Metal Ion
(MMI) soil surveys were carried out over five of the six best IP anomalies.  A strong IP response that is typical for gold
mineralization was obtained over the northern contact of the Howey Bay
Intrusive. Of the five sampled IP anomalies, three also returned weak to
moderate gold responses.

Drill
testing of the coincident IP and soil anomalies will commence once weather
conditions permit access.  Kluane
Drilling Ltd., Yukon,
will conduct the drilling, and is expected to mobilize onto the property in
approximately two weeks.

The
Chukuni property lies within the southern corridor of the Cochenour- Gullrock
deformation zone and is of particular interest within the Red Lake Mining
District as this zone hosts the well known Red Lake-Campbell Mine Complex.
Goldcorp’s Red Lake-Campbell Mine Complex, approximately 3.5 km to the north of
the Chukuni property, and currently one of Canada’s largest and richest Archean
gold deposits. Goldcorp’s Red Lake-Campbell Mine Complex produced 629,000
ounces of gold in 2008 (source: Goldcorp’s website at the following link
http://www.goldcorp.com/operations/red_lake_mine/.

“We are
excited to be moving forward with our first drill program on the Chukuni
property, especially with our primary target, the northern contact of the Howey
Bay Intrusive where the strongest IP and geochemical anomalies are located.”
states President Mike England.

Mr. Andrew
Tims, P.Geo will be operating as the Company’s qualified person under National
Instrument 43-101.  Mr. Tims has reviewed
the technical content of this news release and confirms its accuracy.

Ashburton Ventures is a junior exploration company actively seeking
mineral and energy opportunities for the benefit of all its stakeholders. For
more information please visit the Company’s website located at
www.ashburtonventures.com.

ON
BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Michael
England, President


For
further information contact:

Telephone: (604)
683-3995



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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.