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--(Marketwired - April 27, 2017) - Marathon Gold Corp. ("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.

TABLE 1: Significant fire assay intervals from drill holes MA-17-174 and MA-17-175, Marathon Gold Deposit, Valentine Lake Gold Camp.

Acknowledgments

Marathon acknowledges the financial support of the JEA Program, Department of Natural Resources, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Research & Development Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador has granted approximately 40% of the costs of the current seismic program to Marathon Gold and we appreciate this support.

Quality Assurance-Quality Control ("QA/QC")

Sherry Dunsworth, M.Sc., P. Geo., SVP of Exploration, Marathon's Qualified Person, has reviewed the contents for accuracy and has approved this press release on behalf of Marathon. Thorough QA/QC protocols are followed including the insertion of blanks and standards at regular intervals in each sample batch. Drill core is cut in half with one half retained at site, the other half tagged and sent to Eastern Analytical Ltd. in Springdale, Newfoundland. All reported core samples were analyzed for Au by fire assay (30g) with AA finish. All samples above 0.10 g/t Au in economically interesting intervals are further assayed using metallic screen to mitigate the presence of coarse gold. Significant mineralized intervals are reported in Table 1 as core lengths and estimated true thickness (80% to 95% of core length).

About Marathon Gold

Marathon Gold Corp. (TSX: MOZ) is a gold exploration company rapidly advancing its 100% owned Valentine Lake Gold Camp located in Newfoundland, one of the top mining jurisdictions in the world. The Valentine Lake property currently hosts four near-surface, mainly pit-shell constrained, gold resources totaling 1,388,200 oz. gold at 1.91 g/t (Measured & Indicated) and 766,500 oz. gold at 2.24 g/t (Inferred), (February 2017). These resources occur over a 20-km system of gold bearing veins - much of the 24,000-hectare property has not been explored in detail to date. Drilling in 2017 will continue to focus on expanding the Marathon Deposit at surface and to depth. The property is accessible by year-round round, and is located within Newfoundland's electrical grid. The Company has constructed and maintains a 50-person all-season camp at the project. Recent metallurgical tests have demonstrated 93% to 98% recoveries via conventional milling and 50% to 70% recoveries via low cost heap leaching at both the Leprechaun and Marathon Deposits. To find out more information on the Valentine Lake Gold Camp 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