El Nino completes acquisition in the DRC

VANCOUVER, Dec. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ – El Nino Ventures Inc. (“El Nino” or the “Company”) (TSX.V: ELN; Frankfurt: E7Q) is pleased to announce that it has signed an Acquisition of an Interest Agreement with Phoenix Mining Corporation (“PMC”) a Congolese mining company, pursuant to the Letter of Intent that was announced July 21, 2008, PMC and ELN wish to incorporate the terms and conditions of the detailed agreement that reflects the terms of the Letter Agreement as follows:

Under the terms of the Acquisition of an Interest Agreement the Company can earn a 70 percent interest in PR 9316 in the DRC by making; a payment of $200,000 USD which payment will be payable upon regulatory approval of this Agreement; 100,000 shares of the share capital of the Company shall be issued to PMC on each of the three anniversary dates of this Agreement for a total of 300,000 shares; the Company will be the program operator and will be responsible for all exploration and development costs on this property; the Company shall pay $2,000,000 to PMC upon the following schedule: (i) $250,000 within 15 days of the first anniversary of the Effective Date, (ii) $300,000 within 15 days of the second anniversary of the Effective Date; (iii) $350,000 within 15 days of the third anniversary of the Effective Date, and (iv) the balance of $1,100,000 within 15 days of the fourth anniversary of the Effective Date.

Jean Luc Roy, President & CEO of El Nino Ventures Inc. states: “We are very happy to reach a conclusion on this acquisition with PMC. This Research Permit 9316 is located between two world class deposits, the Ruashi deposit and the Luishi deposit and the Company is already planning its initial exploration program which will be carried out over the next year.

“I would also like to update our shareholders on the pending results on our PR 5214 which were expected this month. We should have all results in a couple of weeks and at that point the Company will release its results on the Kasala Project.”

About El Nino Ventures

El Nino Ventures is a junior exploration company, focused on exploring for Copper/Cobalt in the DRC. El Nino has an option to acquire a 70% interest in over 350 square kilometers in the world renowned copper belt in the DRC. In addition to our Copper and Cobalt projects in the DRC, the Company has zinc properties in Ireland and holds a 50 percent interest on an extensive land package in the Bathurst Mining Camp with Xstrata Zinc Canada.

    On Behalf of the Board of Directors

    "Jean Luc Roy"

    Jean Luc Roy, President and CEO

    The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept
    responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release

CUSIP# 28335E-10-6

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.