Drilling in Deeper Zone of Marathon Deposit Hits 3.10 g/t Au over 19.3 meters (TT) & 3.61 g/t Au over 18.0 meters (TT), Valentine Gold Camp

TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - November 02, 2016) - Marathon Gold Corp. ("Marathon" or the "Company") (TSX: MOZ) announces very positive results from continued drilling at the Marathon Deposit, Valentine Gold Camp. New drill holes MA-16-121, MA-16-122, MA-16-125, MA-16-127, MA-16-128 and MA-16-129 intersected significant intervals of good-grade gold mineralization at both shallow and deeper intervals within the Marathon Deposit area. Deeper drill holes MA-16-127, MA-16-128 and MA-16-129, along with previously reported drill holes MA-16-116, MA-16-113, MA-16-112, MA-16-111, MA-16-107, MA-16-101, MA-15-032 and MA-15-047, have all intersected wide intervals of higher grade gold at depth and define the deeper mineralized corridor within the Marathon Deposit (Figure 1). Step-out drilling to the southwest continued to intersect shallow as well as deeper mineralization. The 50-100-meter-wide (TT) subvertical mineralized corridor of the Marathon Deposit is open along strike and now extends to depth in excess of 350 meters. A second drill commenced operation at the Marathon Deposit on October 28, 2016 in advance of the anticipated 2017 resource update.

Highlights (true thickness):

• Best intercepts in deeper drill holes MA-16-127 and MA-16-128 included 3.10 g/t Au over 19.3 meters with 5.34 g/t Au over 5.0 meters, 7.66 g/t Au over 1.7 meters and 4.69 g/t Au over 2.2 meters in MA-16-127, and 3.61 g/t Au over 18.0 meters with 31.35 g/t Au over 0.6 meters, 8.55 g/t Au over 3.0 meters and 15.89 g/t Au over 0.6 meters in MA-16-128. These new intercepts occur 80 to 120 meters down-dip from previously drilling. The deeper higher-grade mineralized zone intersected in previously released drill holes MA-16-101, 107, 111, 112, 113, 116 and MA-15-047 and 032 has a current strike length in excess of 300 meters (Figure 1).
• Step-out drill holes MA-16-122 and MA-16-125, located southwest of the Marathon resource pit shell, intersected significant near surface as well as deeper gold mineralization (Figure 1). Best intercepts included: MA-16-122 intersecting 3.77 g/t Au over 7.0 meters with 8.49 g/t Au over 2.8 meters and MA-16-125 intersecting 1.61 g/t Au over 8.4 meters with 5.64 g/t Au over 1.4 meters.
• The Marathon Deposit alteration and mineralized corridor, including the 2015 open pit resource shell, now extends for at least 1.7 kilometers (Figure 1). Drilling at the Marathon Deposit is focused on southwest expansion of the open pit resource shell and tracing higher grade mineralization to depth.
• A new 35,000-meter drill program is underway with the goal of expanding gold resources at the Leprechaun, Sprite, Marathon and Victory Deposits as well as developing new resources at other exploration targets throughout the Valentine Gold Camp.

"Ongoing exploration success at the Marathon Deposit area is very exciting as we keep expanding gold resources for the Valentine Gold Camp", said Phillip Walford, President and CEO of Marathon. "The recently completed FT financing will allow us to run two drills on the property in order to maximizing the 2017 resource update."

TABLE 1: Significant fire assay intervals from drill holes MA-16-121, MA-16-122, MA-16-125, MA-16-127, MA-16-128 and MA-16-129, Marathon Gold Deposit, Valentine Gold Camp.

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. The Research and Development Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador has granted approximately 75% of the costs of the current metallurgical program to Marathon Gold and we appreciate this support.

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 10% 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.

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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