Zenyatta Ventures Ltd. Contracts Drilling Company and Hires VP Exploration

THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Jan. 20, 2011) - Zenyatta Ventures Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:ZEN) ("Zenyatta" or "Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed a contract with Cartwright Drilling Inc. to carry out up to 20,000 metres of drilling utilizing two (2) drill rigs. The program will commence within the next few days and test several high priority Magnetic and Electromagnetic geophysical targets identified by Geotech's VTEM 35 airborne system in 2010 on the Albany Project.

Zenyatta has the right to earn a total of 80% interest in the Albany Project from Cliffs Natural Resources Exploration Canada Inc. by expending a total of $10,000,000 over 4 years. The Project consists of approximately 300,000 acres in an area highly prospective for Copper, Nickel and PGM's. The Company has already earned 25% interest by flying the Geotech airborne survey and is presently working towards earning an additional 55% interest.

Zenyatta continued to strengthen its technical expertise by hiring Robert D. Stewart, P. Geo. as Vice President Exploration. Mr. Stewart brings extensive experience with over 30 years in mineral exploration since obtaining an M.Sc. (Geology) from Carleton University in 1979 and an H. B.Sc. (Geology) from Mount Allison University in 1975. He will have the responsibility of overseeing the design and management of exploration programs on behalf of Zenyatta. Mr. Stewart has extensive national and international experience with a speciality in project generation and implementation for the discovery of base metal deposits. From 1980 to 1997 he held technical and managerial positions with Falconbridge Limited in Canada and abroad looking for copper, nickel and zinc. More recently Mr. Stewart has consulted on successful exploration programs for copper, nickel, PGM, lead-zinc-silver, gold and ferrovanadium for companies in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Aubrey Eveleigh, President and CEO stated "The addition of a seasoned geologist such as Robert Stewart will be very important for the implementation of the Company's growth strategy. He brings extensive experience and leadership to the Zenyatta geological team. In our first year, Mr. Stewart will not only focus on the Albany project but help evaluate other high quality exploration acquisitions for the Company".

Zenyatta common shares commenced trading December 23, 2010 on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol 'ZEN' after a successful $9,926,459 IPO financing through a syndicate led by Jennings Capital Inc., GMP Securities LP and assisted by financial advisor Fox Collins Securities Inc. (see News Release dated 22 December 2010).

Cliffs Natural Resources Exploration Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE:CLF), an international mining and natural resource company, holds 11.8% of the outstanding common shares of Zenyatta.

Zenyatta has 39,570,313 common shares outstanding and approximately $10,000,000 in cash. To find out more on Zenyatta Ventures Ltd., please visit our website at www.zenyatta.ca or contact the Company at info@zenyatta.ca or Tel. 807-346-1660. This news release may contain forward-looking statements and is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the Company's forward-looking statements and expectations. The forward-looking information contained herein is given as of the date hereof and the Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.