Mr. Phillip Walford reports

NEW HIGH-GRADE GOLD ZONES IN THE SOUTHWEST MARATHON DEPOSIT: 17.39 G/T AU OVER 5.0 M, 19.63 G/T AU OVER 3.0 M & 4.90 G/T AU OVER 13.0 M, VALENTINE LAKE GOLD CAMP, NEWFOUNDLAND

Marathon Gold Corp. is excited by its continued success in predicting and intersecting high-grade gold mineralization at open-pit depths in the southwestern part of the Marathon deposit. Drill holes MA-18-336 to MA-18-339, MA-18-341, MA-18-343 and extended drill hole MA-17-216 all succeeded in intersecting significant intervals of good gold grades as the company continues to further define the main mineralized corridor in this southwestern part of the Marathon deposit, focusing on widening the shallow open-pit resources and decreasing strip ratio.

"We are pleased to be announcing these encouraging drilling results from the later stages of our 2018 drilling program," said Phillip Walford, president and chief executive officer of Marathon Gold. "We continue to intersect high-grade gold over wide intervals at open-pit depths which will be added to a resource update for the prefeasibility study. Two thousand eighteen has been a very productive year at Valentine Lake. We have added 844,000 ounces of measured and indicated and 519,000 ounces inferred of gold to the total overall resources this year through some very challenging gold markets. As this year comes to a close, we look forward to a better gold market in 2019 as we continue to grow the largest gold deposit in Atlantic Canada."

             SIGNIFICANT ASSAY INTERVALS, MARATHON DEPOSIT, VALENTINE LAKE GOLD CAMP     
   
DDH               From     To   Core length       True thickness      Gold          Gold (cut)*
                   (m)    (m)           (m)                  (m)     (g/t)                (g/t)

MA-18-336          158    167             9                  7.7      4.96
including          164    166             2                  1.7     18.21
                   217    230            13                 11.1      2.38
including          227    229             2                  1.7      6.36
                   241    244             3                  2.6      1.50
                   267    270             3                  2.6      1.38
                   276    279             3                  2.6      3.12
MA-18-337           25     28             3                  2.9      2.27
                   134    138             4                  3.8      1.29
                   188    191             3                  2.9      3.18
                   193    206            13                 12.4      4.90                 4.77
including          200    202             2                  1.9     24.49                23.61
MA-18-338           12     15             3                  2.6      6.54
                   111    116             5                  4.3      2.32
MA-18-339          100    103             3                  2.9      4.13
                   110    113             3                  2.9      2.20
                   124    127             3                  2.9      4.86
MA-18-341           36     40             4                  3.0      1.71
                    67     70             3                  2.3     19.63                15.95
including           68     69             1                  0.8     56.04                45.00
MA-18-343           40     43             3                  2.9      1.00
                    93     96             3                  2.9      1.44
                   101    104             3                  2.9      1.46
                   171    174             3                  2.9      1.31
                   213    218             5                  4.8     17.39                10.45
including          213    215             2                  1.9     42.76                25.42
MA-17-216 Ext      252    264            12                  9.6      2.28
including          258    260             2                  1.6      7.63
                   306    309             3                  2.4      6.59
                   484    487             3                  2.4      2.98
 
* No significant intervals in MA-18-340, 342, FA analysis cut to 45.0 g/t Au.               

Acknowledgments

Marathon acknowledges the financial support of the junior exploration assistance program, Department of Natural Resources, government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Quality assurance/quality control

Sherry Dunsworth, MSc, PGeo, senior vice-president 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, Nfld. All reported core samples are analyzed for Au by fire assay (30 g) 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 the table as core lengths and estimated true thickness (70 to 95 per cent of core length).

About Marathon Gold Corp.

Marathon is a Toronto-based gold exploration company rapidly advancing its 100-per-cent-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, deposits with measured and indicated resources totalling 2,691,400 ounces of gold at 1.85 grams per tonne and inferred resources totalling 1,531,600 ounces of gold at 1.77 g/t.

We seek Safe Harbor.