TORONTO, ON–(Marketwired – March 13, 2017) – Marathon Gold Corporation (“Marathon” or the “Company”) (TSX: MOZ) is pleased to announce continued success in drilling wide intervals of excellent grade gold at the Marathon Deposit, Valentine Lake Gold Camp. Best intercepts included 2.92 g/t Au over 71 meters and 1.88 g/t Au over 136 meters in MA-17-165, and 2.32 g/t Au over 19 meters in MA-17-166 and 2.35 g/t Au over 29.0 meters in MA-17-167. These latest drill holes were designed to penetrate down-through the gold-bearing en-echelon stacked quartz-tourmaline-pyrite (QTP) vein swarms and confirm the vertical continuity of the strong gold mineralization within this 50 to 100-meter wide structural corridor which is open both along strike and to depth. Drilling also targeted QTP veining within the hanging wall of the deposit.

The February 21, 2017 property-wide resource update reported 1,388,200 oz. Au at 1.91 g/t (Measured & Indicated) and 766,500 oz. Au at 2.24 g/t (Inferred). The Marathon Deposit is the largest deposit on the property with 483,800 oz. Au grading 1.72 g/t Measured and Indicated and 583,400 oz. Au grading 2.20 g/t Inferred mostly within a resource pit shell that now extends along strike for almost 1500 meters and has a width of up to 750 meters (Figure 1). The mineralized corridor of the Marathon Deposit that contains the deeper mineralization has a current well defined strike length of over 550 meters, has been traced to depths of more than 500 meters, and is open both along strike and to depth. The ongoing excellent drilling results from the Marathon Deposit will be added to the next resource update prior to the PEA.

An innovative seismic program covering over 2.3 km of the strike length by 500 meters wide has been recently completed south west of the Marathon Deposit trend. The total program is estimated to cost $1,785,000 and The Research & Development Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador has provided a grant of $742,500 towards the cost of the program. Data processing is currently underway with interpretation expected to take up to three months however preliminary results will be available sooner. The purpose of the survey is to detect the vein swarms that make up the Marathon Deposit and trace them along strike to depths of up to 1 km. The survey should also identify parallel zones beneath the overburden and in the rock down to depths of 1 km to which will be used to optimize exploration drilling. Major features including the thrust fault that controls the mineralization should also be detected and will be of value in exploration.

Highlights:

• Best intercepts in MA-17-165 include: 2.92 g/t Au over 71 meters with 7.32 g/t Au over 6.0 meters and 6.80 g/t Au over 14.0 meters, and 1.88 g/t Au over 136 meters with 5.15 g/t Au over 8.0 meters, 3.65 g/t Au over 15.0 meters and 6.53 g/t Au over 10.0 meters. This sub-vertical drill hole has gold grades that are higher than the average for the Marathon Deposit, is not included in the February 2017 resource update, and proves the near continuous distribution of mineralization vertically down-through the mineralized corridor of the deposit.
• Best intercepts from inclined drill holes included: 2.32 g/t Au over 19.0 meters and 14.17 g/t Au over 6.0 meters in MA-17-166 and 2.35 g/t Au over 29.0 meters with 8.11 g/t Au over 4.0 meters and 7.11 g/t Au over 4.0 meters in MA-17-167.
• The near-vertical drill hole MA-17-165, as well as previously released MA-17-158 to MA-17-163 (Figure 1), collared within the mineralized corridor of the Marathon Deposit (Figure 1), penetrating normal (90°) to and down-through the gentle SW dipping en-echelon stacked QTP veining of the Marathon Deposit and prove the vertical continuity of the strong gold mineralization from near surface to more than 500 meters’ depth.
• Marathon’s cash position is strong with more than enough to finance the planned 2017 exploration program, including an additional 23,000 meters of drilling remaining from the 30,000 m 2017 program.

“The Marathon Deposit continues to return very exciting drilling results with these new wide intervals of excellent gold grades to be added to the next resource update,” said Phillip Walford, President and CEO. “The drilling will continue into spring thaw where possible at the Marathon Deposit to maximize the rate of resource definition and expansion.”

TABLE 1: Significant fire assay intervals from drill holes MA-17-165 to MA-17-168, Marathon 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 75% 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 (75% to 95% of core length).

About Marathon

Marathon 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 Gold Camp 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 a year-round road, and is located near Newfoundland’s electrical grid. The Company has constructed and maintains a 50-person all-season camp at the property. 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 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 Corporation’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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For more information, please contact:

Christopher Haldane
Investor Relations Manager
Tel: 1-416-987-0714
E-mail: [email protected]

Phillip Walford
President and Chief Executive Officer
Tel: 1-416-987-0711
E-mail: [email protected]