Marathon Deposit Gold Mineralized Corridor Extended to 1.2 km

TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - February 17, 2016) - Marathon Gold Corp. ("Marathon" or the "Company") (TSX: MOZ)  today announced the intersection of significant quartz-tourmaline-pyrite veining with visible gold in new drill holes located 230 meters SW along strike from  previous drilling at the Marathon Gold Deposit. The overall strike length of the gold mineralized corridor now extends southward for 1.2 km from the north end of the current Marathon deposit resource pit shell and remains open on-strike to the southwest (Figure 1). Drill core assays are pending.

Highlights:

• The consulting firm MPH completed an interpretation of the new ground magnetic survey as well as the 2007 airborne data. The study looked at the geophysical signatures of the known deposits in the Valentine Lake intrusion and targeted several other areas for further investigation.
• New step-out drilling, targeting areas overlain by frozen bog terrain, has successfully intersected significant quartz-tourmaline-pyrite veining with visible gold up to 230 meters SW along strike from previous drilling at the Marathon Gold Deposit. Drill core assays are pending. Drilling to date indicates that this overburden is usually less than ten meters deep.
• The gold mineralized corridor of the Marathon Deposit area now extends over a 1.2 km meter strike length; extending southward from the northeast end of the current Marathon deposit resource pit shell (Figure 1). Additional step-out drilling to the southwest and proximal to the Valentine Lake Thrust Fault is planned; targeting highly prospective areas underlain by abundant geophysical interpreted cross structures.
• The 2016 winter drilling campaign has focused on frozen bog covered terrain and the positive results to date justify future plans to extend new drill access roads southward along the Valentine Lake Thrust Fault. The drilling program may be extended to take advantage of the frozen ground if drill results warrant it.

"The intersection of good visual mineralization in 200 meter step-out drill holes is very exciting as we continue our exploration of target areas identified under now frozen bog covered ground to the southwest of the current Marathon Deposit resource pit shell. The gold mineralized corridor of the Marathon Deposit area now extends southward along strike for  1.2 km with numerous additional and highly perspective geophysical cross structure targets yet to be investigated," said Phillip Walford, President and CEO of Marathon. "Our focus continues to be developing a critical mass of open pit resources at the Valentine Gold Camp and our winter drilling program continues to advance this goal."

The 2016 metallurgical program has started with drill core samples received by Thibault and Associates Inc., the metallurgical laboratory that completed the 2014 metallurgical program. The Marathon Deposit will be tested for gravity, floatation and cyanidation of the concentrates. Preliminary heap leach testing is also underway to determine if this cost effective processing method could be viable for both the Leprechaun and Marathon deposit materials. The company has made an application to the Research and Development Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador (RDC) for a research grant in support this metallurgical study. The 2014 program received a grant for 75% of costs.

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

Marathon Gold Corp. acknowledges the financial support of the JEA Program, Department of Natural Resources, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

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 company focused on its 100% owned Valentine Gold Camp located in central Newfoundland. The Valentine Gold Camp currently hosts four near-surface, mainly pit-shell constrained, gold resources totaling 1,060,100 oz. gold at 2.20 g/t (Measured & Indicated) and 200,000 oz. gold at 2.85 g/t (Inferred), (April 2015). These resources, open along strike and to depth, cover less than 6% of the total length of the highly prospective Valentine Lake Thrust Fault and associated splay faults which host the majority of the gold mineralization within the property. For more information please visit  www.marathon-gold.com.  

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Except for statements of historical fact relating to Marathon Gold Corp., 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.

Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/2/17/11G083221/Images/Feb_17,_2016_Map-e248046cea949ed794a4d2bbbbbaf0d1.jpg

Contact

For more information, please contact:

Christopher Haldane  
Investor Relations Manager  
Tel: 1-416-987-0714  
E-mail: chaldane@marathon-gold.com

Phillip Walford  
President and Chief Executive Officer
Tel: 1-416-987-0711
E-mail:  pwalford@marathon-gold.com