Marathon's Deep Drilling Intersects 5.0 meters of 11.08 g/t Au at Depth of 900 meters (3,000 ft.), Valentine Lake Gold Camp, Newfoundland

TORONTO, ON--(April 27, 2017) - Marathon Gold Corporation ("Marathon" or the "Company")(TSX: MOZ) is delighted to announce high-grade gold assays through thick intervals of stacked quartz-tourmaline-pyrite (QTP) veining with visible gold in drill holes MA-17-174 and MA-17-175, the deepest holes ever drilled at the Marathon Deposit, Valentine Lake Gold Camp. These sub-vertical holes, spaced 180 apart meters along strike, were drilled down through the mineralized corridor of the Marathon Deposit and both intersected abundant, wide intervals of QTP veining with numerous occurrences of visible gold (VG) at depths of up to 950 meters. As a result of drilling from 2014 to date, the uniformity of mineralization in the Marathon Deposit, encountered both at depth and along strike, is indicative of an extensive and strong mineralizing system.

 

Drill hole MA-17-175 intersected wide intervals of intermittent moderate to high-grade gold to depths of 966 meters, including 1.77 g/t Au over 101 meters with 6.48 g/t Au over 7 meters and 7.92 g/t Au over 4.0 meters, 4.09 g/t Au over 19.0 meters with 12.54 g/t Au over 5 meters and 3.25 g/t Au over 32.0 meters with 11.08 g/t over 5.0 meters.

 Drill hole MA-17-174 continued to return significant intermittently spaced gold intervals to a depth of 782 meters along the hanging wall edge of the mineralized corridor. The deeper intervals included 3.05 g/t Au over 3.0 meters, 6.65 g/t Au over 3.0 meters and 3.31 g/t Au over 3.0 meters. Both of these deep drill holes clearly demonstrate the potential for definition of additional gold resources beneath the lower limit of the February 2017 resource body (Figure 1).

 

Marathon Deposit Model

 

The Marathon Deposit is a classic orogenic gold deposit. These types of gold deposits are found throughout the world and have produced the majority of the world's gold. The Timmins and Val d'Or orogenic-type gold deposits are noted for having gold deposited at more than 2 kilometers depth, which gives them great underground mining potential. We see the same underground mining potential at the Marathon Deposit.

 

Highlights:

 

Best intercepts in MA-17-174 included 1.36 g/t Au over 76.0 meters with 3.37 g/t Au over 20.0 meters as well as deeper intercepts of 3.05 g/t Au over 3.0 meters, 6.65 g/t Au over 3.0 meters and 3.31 g/t Au over 3.0 meters.

Best intercepts in MA-17-175 included 1.77 g.t Au over 101.0 meters with 6.48 g/t Au over 7.0 meters and 7.92 g/t Au over 4.0 meters, 4.09 g/t Au over 19.0 meters with 12.54 g/t Au over 5 meters and 3.25 g/t Au over 32.0 meters with 11.08 g/t over 5.0 meters.

The two drill holes intersected numerous narrow, high grade zones at depth separated by lower grade material. The extensive nature of this mineralization on the hanging wall of the mineralized corridor suggests that there may be better mineralization towards the center of the corridor and that will require additional drilling to prove up.

Drill holes MA-17-176, MA-17-178 and MA-17-179 were designed to pass through the mineralized corridor at higher elevations than MA-17-174 and MA-17-175 and have successfully encountered typical QTP veins with VG. Assays for these three holes are pending.

"The results of the deep exploration drilling of MA-17-174 and MA-17-175 are very exciting. The potential for deep gold mineralization has been clearly demonstrated. The stage is set for exploring to depth for underground resources and additional open pit resources at the Marathon Deposit. Our goal for the next phase of drilling is to rapidly develop these resources by following the 40 to 100 meter wide mineralized corridor of gold mineralization, which is open along strike in both directions, and also extends to at least 1000 meters in depth and possibly more," said Phillip Walford, President and CEO.