Results include 7.17 g/t Au over 21m, 5.25 g/t Au over 17m, 3.10 g/t Au over 19.3m, 19.28 g/t Au over 3m, 2.37 g/t Au over 24m

Marathon Gold Corporation (TSX: MOZ) is pleased to report the latest drill assay results from the Valentine Gold Project in central Newfoundland. The latest drill results represent fire assay data from twenty diamond drill holes completed as part of the 2021 in-fill drill campaign at the 1.5 kilometre long Berry Deposit. Highlights include:

• VL-21-1150 intersected 7.17 g/t Au over 21 metres including 84.40 g/t Au over 1 metre and including 19.13 g/t Au over 1 metre and including 12.61 g/t Au over 1 metre, and 50.17 g/t Au over 1 metre;
• VL-21-1142 intersected 5.25 g/t Au over 17 metres including 32.05 g/t Au over 2 metres, and 0.81 g/t Au over 23 metres;
• VL-21-1155 intersected 3.10 g/t Au over 19.3 metres including 13.96 g/t Au over 3 metres, and 4.83 g/t Au over 8 metres including 15.29 g/t Au over 1 metre, and 8.27 g//t Au over 3 metres including 22.49 g/t Au over 1 metre;
• VL-21-1156 intersected 19.28 g/t Au over 3 metres including 54.07 g/t Au over 1 metre, and 7.99 g/t Au over 5 metres including 31.64 g/t Au over 1 metre, and 8.17 g/t Au over 3 metres including 17.38 g/t Au over 1 metre;
• VL-21-1159 intersected 1.42 g/t Au over 20 metres, and 11.75 g/t Au over 3 metres including 33.10 g/t Au over 1 metre, and 1.13 g/t Au over 16 metres; and
• VL-21-1145 intersected 2.37 g/t Au over 24 metres including 28.89 g/t Au over 1 metre.

All quoted intersections comprise uncut gold assays in core lengths. All significant assay intervals are reported in Table 1.

Matt Manson, President and CEO, commented: “With these latest 20 exploration holes from Berry we are continuing our practice of releasing drill results in whole-hole batches as they come to us from the assay lab. One more batch of 2021 holes remains outstanding, after which we will have released a total of approximately 100,000 metres of Berry drilling. These will be the data utilized in our next mineral resource update. Of note in today’s batch, high grade intercepts show SW-dipping structural continuity over multiple holes below the current conceptual pit shell on Section 14120E (Figures 4 and 5). So far in 2022, 9,810 metres of exploration drilling has been completed at the Berry Deposit and 2,720 metres at the Victory Deposit. Drilling is expected to resume shortly after our annual spring shutdown during March and April.”

Gold Mineralization at the Valentine Gold Project

Gold mineralization at the Valentine Gold Project is contained in Quartz-Tourmaline-Pyrite-Gold veins developed within granitoid rocks on the hanging wall, or northwest, side of the Valentine Lake Shear Zone (“VLSZ”; Figure 1). Up to four orientations of veins have been measured, with shallowly southwest dipping “Set 1” QTP-Au veins observed to be dominant in both abundance and gold content. At the Leprechaun, Marathon and Berry Deposits, Set 1 QTP-Au veins form densely stacked corridors of mineralization referred to as “Main Zones”. The extent and scale of these mineralised corridors appear related to the size and frequency of sheared mafic dykes which extend northeast-southwest within the granitoid rocks, parallel to the shear zone.

Figure 1: Location Map, Valentine Gold Project

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Berry Deposit Drill Results

The results released today are derived from twenty drill holes located between sections 13600E and 14180E. Fourteen of these drill holes are located within the western conceptual pit utilized in the April 2021 Berry Mineral Resource Estimate. Eleven holes (VL-21-1142, 1145, 1148, 1149, 1150, 1151, 1152, 1153, 1156, 1157 and 1159) were oriented steeply to the northwest testing for Main Zone-type stacked QTP-Au mineralization in “Set 1” vein orientations while three holes (VL-21-1154, 1155 and 1158) were oriented more shallowly towards the SE in order to better define the thickness of the mineralized zones and the location of the VLSZ.

Fifteen of the twenty drill holes returned “significant” drill intercepts of greater than 0.7 g/t Au (Table 1). Sixteen holes returned additional intercepts with gold grades above the 0.3 g/t Au cut-off used in the April 2021 Berry Mineral Resource estimate.

Six of the drill holes released today (VL-21-1140, 1141, 1143, 1144, 1146 and 1147) were part of a reconnaissance step-out program over an approximately 750 metre distance from the northwestern margin of the currently defined Berry Mineral Resource estimate towards the historical “Scott Showing” further to the northwest. The Scott Showing comprises an outcrop of extensive QTP veining, albeit with minimal gold content. Only one of these six holes returned an a “significant” drill intercept of greater than 0.7 g/t Au (VL-21-1146).

Figure 2: Location of Berry Deposit Exploration Drill Hole Collars VL-21-1140 to VL-21-1159

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Figure 3: Long Section of the Berry Deposit (View NW) Incorporating all Drilling up to and Including VL-21-1159, Representing 93,570 metres, and Assays Above 0.3 g/t Au.

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The 2021 infill drill program at the Berry Deposit has been conducted with the objective of achieving an approximate 25 metre drill spacing over Berry’s Main Zone of dense mineralisation and extending drill coverage into the Berry hanging-wall to the northwest and down to a vertical depth of 300 metres. Figure 3 illustrates the extent to which this has been achieved, in long section, after approximately 93,570 metres of assay results.

Table 1: Significant Assay Intervals from Drill Hole Collars VL-21-1140 to VL-21-1159, Berry Deposit, Valentine Gold Project

Notes on the Calculation of Assay Intervals

1. “Significant” assay intervals are defined as 1m core length or more of mineralization with an average fire assay result of greater than 0.7 g/t Au, representing the bottom cut-off for high-grade mill feed in the Marathon April 2021 Feasibility Study mine plan. Assay intervals with an average fire assay result of between 0.3 g/t Au and 0.7 g/t Au are above the cut-off used in the April 2021 Mineral Resource estimate for the Berry Deposit but are not considered “significant” for the purposes of this news release.
2. Cut gold grades are calculated at 30 g/t Au.
3. No significant results in drill holes VL-21-1140, 1141, 1143, 1144 and 1147.

Figure 4: Cross Section 14120E (View NE) with Significant (>0.7 g/t Au) Intercepts, Berry Deposit, Valentine Gold Project.

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Figure 5: Cross Section 14120E (View NE) with all Fire Assay Data, Berry Deposit, Valentine Gold Project.

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Qualified Persons

Disclosure of a scientific or technical nature in this news release was prepared under the supervision of Nicholas Capps, P.Geo. (NL), Manager of Exploration for Marathon Gold Corporation. Exploration data quality assurance and control for Marathon is under the supervision of Jessica Borysenko, P.Geo (NL), GIS Manager for Marathon Gold Corporation. Both Mr. Capps and Ms. Borysenko are qualified persons under National Instrument (“NI”) 43-101. The Qualified Person responsible for the preparation of the April 2021 Mineral Resource estimate for the Berry Deposit is Robert Farmer, P.Eng. of John T Boyd Company. Mr. Farmer is considered to be “independent” of Marathon and the Valentine Gold Project for purposes of NI 43-101.

Quality Assurance-Quality Control

QA/QC protocols followed at the Valentine Gold Project include 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 Limited in Springdale, NL. All reported core samples are analyzed for Au by fire assay (30g) with AA finish. All samples above 0.30 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 (70 – 95% of core length), and reported with and without a top-cut of 30 g/t Au applied.

About Marathon

Marathon is a Toronto based gold company advancing its 100%-owned Valentine Gold Project located in the central region of Newfoundland and Labrador, one of the top mining jurisdictions in the world. The Project comprises a series of five mineralized deposits along a 20-kilometre system. An April 2021 Feasibility Study outlined an open pit mining and conventional milling operation over a thirteen-year mine life with a 31.5% after-tax rate of return. The Project has estimated Proven Mineral Reserves of 1.40 Moz (29.68 Mt at 1.46 g/t) and Probable Mineral Reserves of 0.65 Moz (17.38 Mt at 1.17 g/t). Total Measured Mineral Resources (inclusive of the Mineral Reserves) comprise 1.92 Moz (32.59 Mt at 1.83 g/t) with Indicated Mineral Resources (inclusive of the Mineral Reserves) of 1.22 Moz (24.07 Mt at 1.57 g/t). Additional Inferred Mineral Resources are 1.64 Moz (29.59 Mt at 1.72 g/t Au).