Results include 5.06 g/t Au over 25m, 2.19 g/t Au over 39m, 1.80 g/t Au over 48m,1.23 g/t Au over 48m

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 eighteen diamond drill holes completed as part of the 2021 in-fill drill campaign at the 1.5 kilometre long Berry Deposit. Highlights include:

• VL-21-1119 intersected 5.06 g/t Au over 25 metres including 9.13 g/t Au over 11 metres, and 5.55 g/t Au over 6 metres including 14.02 g/t Au over 1 metre, and 0.77 g/t Au over 12 metres and 0.97 g/t Au over 9 metres;
• VL-21-1139 intersected 1.80 g/t Au over 48 metres including 14.27 g/t Au over 2 metres, and 24.48 g/t Au over 2 metres including 45.17 g/t Au over 1 metre, and 5.17 g/t Au over 6 metres including 1.84 g/t Au over 2 metres, and 3.20 g/t Au over 12 metres including 19.72 over 1 metre;
• VL-21-1123 intersected 2.19 g/t Au over 37 metres including 12.10 g/t Au over 1 metre and including 10.74 g/t Au over 1 metre, and 4.46 g/t Au over 3 metres including 10.13 g.t Au over 1 metre;
• VL-21-1132 intersected 8.20 g/t Au over 5 metres including 17.18 g/t Au over 1 metre, and 4.52 g/t Au over 9 metres including 15.64 g/t Au over 1 metre, and 1.71 g/t Au over 14 metres including 11.25 g/t Au over 1 metre, and 11.84 g/t Au over 2 metres including 22.98 g/t Au over 1 metre;
• VL-21-1134 intersected 4.46 g/t Au over 9 metres including 16.00 g/t Au over 2 metres, and 2.98 g/t Au over 12 metres including 17.53 g/t Au over 1 metre, and 1.67 g/t Au over 8 metres;
• VL-21-1117 intersected 1.23 g/t Au over 48 metres; and
• VL-21-1128 intersected 0.83 g/t Au over 23 metres, and 14.72 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: “Our first mineral resource estimate at Berry, which comprised 0.64 Moz of Inferred Mineral Resources in 11.33 Mtonnes at 1.75 g/t Au, was based on 42,000m of drilling completed to the end of November, 2020. The next estimate will be based on the approximately 100,000 metres that we had completed to the end of November, 2021. With this latest batch of Berry drill results, we have now published 88,460 metres of fire assays out of this total. 11,540 metres of results in 44 drill holes remain to be released. The update to the Berry mineral resource estimate, along with updates to the Leprechaun, Marathon and Victory estimates, is expected to be completed by mid-year. We continue to be impressed by the density and continuity of high-grade gold mineralization that we are seeing developed at Berry. We are optimistic about the potential of Berry to add a meaningful quantity of future mineral resources to the Valentine Gold Project mine plan.”

Mineral Resources which are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Please see the National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report dated April 23, 2021 for a summary of the Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources at the Valentine Gold Project.

Figure 1: Location Map, Valentine Gold Project

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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 (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.

Berry Deposit Drill Results

The results released today are derived from eighteen drill holes located between sections 13500E and 14200E and within the western conceptual pit shell utilized in the April 2021 Berry Mineral Resource estimate and in the linkage area between the western and eastern conceptual pit shells (Figure 2). Fifteen of the eighteen drill holes (VL-21-1110, 1111, 1113, 1115, 1117, 1119, 1121, 1123, 1125, 1128, 1130, 1132,1135, 1137 and 1139) were oriented steeply down to the northwest testing for Main Zone-type stacked QTP-Au mineralization in “Set 1” vein orientations progressively further out into Berry’s hanging wall rocks. Drill holes VL-21-1134 VL-21-1136 and VL-21-1138 were oriented more shallowly towards the SE in order to better define the thickness of the mineralized zones and the location of the VLSZ.

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 88,460 metres of assay results.

Figure 2: Location of Berry Deposit Exploration Drill Hole Collars VL-21-1110 to VL-21-1139

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Figure 3: Long Section of the Berry Deposit (View NW) Incorporating all Drilling up to and Including VL-21-1139, Representing 88,460 metres, and Assays Above 0.3 g/t Au.

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

Table 1: Significant Assay Intervals from Drill Hole Collars VL-21-1110 to VL-21-1139, 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. Drill holes VL-21-1109, 1112, 1114, 1116, 1118, 1120, 1122, 1124, 1126, 1127, 1129, 1131 and 1133 are located in the Sprite Deposit and were reported on March 10, 2022.
4. No significant results in drill hole VL-21-1113.

Figure 4: Cross Section 13560 E (View NE) with Significant (>0.7 g/t Au) Intercepts, Berry Deposit, Valentine Gold Project.

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Figure 5: Cross Section 13560E (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). Please see Marathon’s Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2020 and other filings made with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and available at www.sedar.com for further details and assumptions relating to the Valentine Gold Project.