Marathon Completes Successful Sprite Zone Winter Drilling Program, Valentine Lake Property

TORONTO, April 17, 2014 /CNW/ - Marathon Gold Corp. ("Marathon" or the "Company") (TSX: MOZ) today announced the results of the final drill holes from the highly successful winter 2014 drilling campaign at the Sprite Zone, Valentine Lake Property (Figure 1). A total of 26 drill holes totaling 3,487m of NQ drill core, representing most of the winter drilling, were completed at the Sprite Zone. This new Sprite drill area has yielded multiple wide, high-grade, near surface gold intervals and marks the beginning of concentrated exploration in this highly perspective quartz, tourmaline, pyrite (QTP)-gold rich zone located just 1.5 kilometers along strike NE of the Leprechaun Gold Deposit and proximal to the Valentine Lake thrust fault (Figure 1). The Sprite gold area has a current strike length in excess of 500 meters and is open in all directions. Future trenching and drilling campaigns will focus along strike and down-dip on this promising new area of gold mineralization at the Valentine Lake property.

Highlights include:

• Multiple, wide near-surface gold intercepts in recently announced drilling including: 2.80 g/t Au over 18.4 meters true thickness (TT) in VL-14-543, 2.53 g/t Au over 16.5 meters (TT) in VL-14-549, 2.20 g/t Au over 16.8 meters (TT) in VL-14-542, and 1.69 g/t Au over 24.0 meters (TT) in VL-14-552.
• High-grade gold intercepts in recently announced drilling including: 5.35 g/t Au over 6.0 meters (TT) in VL-14-553, 4.38 g/t Au over 5.4 meters (TT) in VL-14-561, and 3.83 g/t Au over 5.6 meters (TT) in VL-14-554.
• New near-surface wide QTP veining intervals with gold intercepts of 1.43 g/t Au over 6.0 meters (TT) including 8.95 g/t Au over 0.6 meters (TT) in VL-14-563, 1.60 g/t Au over 2.4 meters (TT) in VL-14-558, 0.66 g/t Au over 7.2 meters (TT) in VL-14-562, and 0.54 g/t Au over 11.5 meters (TT) in VL-14-564. These results are expanding the area of gold mineralizaton.
• The new Sprite gold area has a proven strike length in excess of 500 meters and is currently open in all directions within an expansive alteration zone (Figure 1).
• The coming summer drilling program is planned to focus on step-out and down-dip targeting in the Sprite area with the aim of expanding the boundaries of the new QTP-gold mineralization and continuing development of this new potential open pit resource at the Valentine Lake property. Additional drilling is planned for the Victory Gold deposit, other gold-bearing areas within the Sprite Zone where wide spaced historical and minor Marathon drilling has intercepted significant gold intervals, as well as other open-pit targets on the property.
• A systematic exploration program of prospecting and trenching will be conducted during the coming summer focused along the entire Sprite Zone as well as north-east into the Marathon area where good gold values were found in extensive QTP-rich surface veining last year. The goal of this work is to define more future drilling targets for ongoing development of near-surface open pit resources in the Valentine Lake property.

"The success of our winter drilling at the newly discovered gold mineralization area in the Sprite Zone is a testimony to the effectiveness of our systematic approach to exploration and resource development which rapidly identified drill targets. Magnetic lows provide another important exploration tool as they help define splay faults that would have provided conduits for concentration of the mineralizing fluids during formation of the QTP-gold veining and alteration. The close proximity to the Leprechaun deposit makes Sprite a very important area for the development of additional resources at the Valentine Lake Property. We look forward to continued success with our summer 2014 drilling campaign planned for the Sprite Zone targeting additional current prospective drill targets. We also look forward to positive results from our ongoing summer program of detailed prospecting and trenching focused on other exploration targets along the Valentine Lake thrust and associated splay faults," said Phillip Walford, President and CEO of Marathon.

TABLE 1: Significant Assay Intervals from drill holes VL-14-558 to VL-14-558 and VL-14-562 to VL-14-565, Sprite Zone

* No significant assay intervals in VL-14-566.
VL-14-560 and VL-14-561 previously released.

** (TT) - denotes true thickness

All of the samples were fire assayed at Eastern Analytical Laboratory Ltd., in Springdale, Newfoundland.

Sherry Dunsworth, M.Sc., P. Geo., VP of Exploration, Marathon's Qualified Person, has reviewed the contents for accuracy and has approved this press release on behalf of Marathon.

About Marathon Gold Corporation

Marathon is a Toronto based gold resource development company focused on the Valentine Lake property in central Newfoundland. Marathon's mission is to rapidly move the Valentine Lake project towards advanced exploration and pre-development stages. For more information visit: www.marathon-gold.com.

About the Valentine Lake Project

The Valentine Lake property, owned 100% by Marathon Gold Corp., hosts two well defined gold deposits with NI 43-101 compliant resources: the Leprechaun Gold Deposit and the Victory Gold Deposit. The Leprechaun Gold Deposit is located near the south-western end of the Valentine Lake property, and the Victory Gold Deposit is located 13 kilometers along strike to the north-east. These gold deposits form part of a 23 km long, highly prospective gold-bearing mineralized corridor focused along the Valentine Lake Thrust Fault.

The Leprechaun Gold Deposit has a NI 43-101 compliant Open Pit and Underground Resource (refer to August 1, 2013 news release). The Open Pit Resource is Measured 3.5 million tonnes containing 247,000 oz Au, and Indicated 6.2 million tonnes containing 412,000 oz Au, and Inferred 1.2 million tonnes at 1.82 g/t Au containing 71,000 oz Au. The Underground Resource is Measured 108,000 tonnes containing 17,000 oz Au, and Indicated 764,000 tonnes containing 100,000 oz Au, and Inferred 349,000 tonnes containing 69,000 oz Au. As a result of favorable drilling results in 2013 and 2014, the Sprite Area, which is adjacent to the Leprechaun Gold Deposit, will be a focus of continued exploration this year. The Sprite Area adjoins the Leprechaun Gold Deposit and recent promising drilling is located 1.5 km to the north east of the Leprechaun Gold Deposit.

The Victory Gold Deposit (formerly Valentine East Hill) has an Open Pit Resource (refer to August 1, 2013 news release). The Open Pit Resource is Indicated 761,000 tonnes containing 41,000 oz Au, and Inferred 199,000 tonnes containing 9,000 oz Au. Both deposits are open to expansion.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Except for statements of historical fact relating to Marathon Gold Corporation, certain information contained herein constitutes "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements include statements that are predictive in nature, depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, or include words such as "expects", "anticipates", "plans", "believes", "considers", "intends", "targets", or negative versions thereof and other similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as "may", "will", "should", "would" and "could". We provide forward-looking statements for the purpose of conveying information about our current expectations and plans relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. By its nature, this information is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may be general or specific and which give rise to the possibility that expectations, forecasts, predictions, projections or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that assumptions may not be correct and that objectives, strategic goals and priorities will not be achieved. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to those identified and reported in Marathon Gold Corp.'s public filings, which may be accessed at www.sedar.com. Other than as specifically required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, whether as a result of new information, future events, results or otherwise.

SOURCE Marathon Gold Corp.

Image with caption: "Figure 1: Location map of Sprite Zone showing the collar position of drill holes VL-14-558 to VL-14-559 and VL-14-562 to VL-14-565, 2013 channel samples, and mineralizing alteration corridor. (CNW Group/Marathon Gold Corp.)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20140417_C4211_PHOTO_EN_39410.jpg