Mr. Phillip Walford reports

MARATHON DEPOSIT DRILLING CONTINUES SUCCESS WITH 3.92 G/T AU OVER 75 METERS AND 3.84 G/T AU OVER 60 METERS, VALENTINE LAKE GOLD CAMP

Marathon Gold Corp. has released results of new drill holes from the 2017 winter drilling campaign at the Marathon deposit, Valentine Lake gold camp. Best intercepts included 3.92 grams per tonne gold (uncut) over 75.0 metres with 9.46 g/t Au over 5.0 m and 33.39 g/t Au (uncut) over 5.0 m in MA-17-160, and 3.84 g/t Au (uncut) over 60.0 m with 11.90 g/t (uncut) over 9.0 m in MA-17-161.

The Marathon deposit has a current well-defined strike length of over 550 m, has been traced to depth more than 500 m, and is open both along strike and to depth. The subvertical and 50 to 100 m wide main mineralized corridor of the Marathon deposit consists of tightly spaced and gently southwest-dipping arrays of en echelon stacked quartz-tourmaline-pyrite-gold (QTP) veining. The new near-vertical drill holes MA-17-160 and MA-17-161, as well as previously released near-vertical drill holes MA-17-158 and MA-17-159, were designed to penetrate from surface to as much as 500 m depth through these stacked, flat laying, en echelon quartz-tourmaline-pyrite-gold bearing vein arrays, thus proving the continuity of the gold mineralization both vertically as well as along strike through the Marathon deposit. The geometry of the gently dipping and vertically stacked QTP veining is analogous to the stacking of packets of cards within a deck of cards that are separated by small zones of more weakly gold mineralized rock. This style of gold veining is common to orogenic gold systems, such as the Val d'Or district, Quebec.

These latest excellent drill results will be incorporated into the upcoming resource update for the Marathon deposit which is expected to be released by the end of February, 2017. A second resource update, expected to be completed later this year, will be propertywide at the Valentine Lake gold camp. Drilling with two rigs now continues around the clock at the Marathon deposit.

Highlights

• Best intercepts in MA-17-160 include 3.92 g/t Au (uncut) over 75.0 m with 9.46 g/t Au over 5.0 m and 33.39 g/t Au (uncut) over 5.0 m, as well as 2.37 g/t Au over 18 m with 7.78 g/t Au over 4.0 m, 2.75 g/t Au over 17.0 m with 3.49 g/t Au over 10.0 m and 2.62 g/t Au over 15.0 m with 5.62 g/t Au over 3.0 m.
• Best intercepts in MA-17-161 include 3.84 g/t Au (uncut) over 60.0 m with 6.17 g/t Au over 4.0 m and 11.90 g/t (uncut) over 9.0 m, as well as 2.41 g/t Au over 22.0 m with 4.68 g/t Au over 6.0 m and 2.97 g/t Au over 7.0 m.
• Near-vertical infill drill holes MA-17-160 and MA-17-161, as well as previously released MA-17-158 and MA-17-159, collared within the core of the Marathon mineralized corridor penetrate normal (90 degrees) to and down through the gentle southwest-dipping en echelon stacked QTP veining of the Marathon mineralized corridor. These four near-vertical drill holes successfully demonstrate the vertical continuity of the strong gold mineralization from near surface to more than 500 m of depth in the Marathon deposit.
• The 50 to 100 m wide (true thickness), subvertical mineralized corridor of the Marathon deposit has a current well-defined strike length of over 550 m, extends to depth for more than 500 m, and is open both along strike and to depth. The alteration and mineralized corridor of the Marathon deposit, including the 2015 open-pit resource shell, now extends northeast-southwest along strike for at least 1.7 kilometres. Detailed drilling has covering only 30 per cent of that current 1.7-kilometre strike length. Future drilling will focus on expanding the Marathon deposit both along strike and to depth.

"We are very excited by the continued success of our Marathon deposit drilling which is proving up our model of a subvertical, 50 to 100 m wide mineralized corridor composed of close-stacked and shallow southwest-dipping quartz-tourmaline-pyrite-gold vein arrays. The new drilling has intersected consistent good open-pit and underground minable gold grades to more than 500 m vertical depth. Our main goal at the Marathon deposit is expanding the mineralized corridor further to the southwest along strike this year," said Phillip Walford, president and chief executive officer of Marathon. "The aggressive 2017 winter drilling campaign continues as we look forward to the release of the Marathon deposit resource update in later February, 2017."

                           MARATHON DRILL RESULTS

DDH          From    To   Core length   True width     Gold   Gold (cut)
               (m)   (m)           (m)          (m)    (g/t)       (g/t)

MA-17-160      89    92             3          2.9     1.41
              134   209            75         71.3     3.92        2.29
including     138   140             2          1.9     6.43
including     160   165             5          4.8     9.46
including     183   188             5          4.8    33.39        8.96
including     203   205             2          1.9     6.26
              218   236            18         17.1     2.37
including     227   231             4          3.8     7.78
              312   329            17         16.2     2.75
including     326   329             3          2.9     6.67
              337   340             3          2.9     1.71
              346   349             3          2.9     3.78
              371   381            10          9.5     3.49
              407   410             3          2.9     4.92
              432   437             5          4.8     3.50
              458   463             5          4.8     4.05
              484   499            15         14.3     2.62
including     489   492             3          2.9     5.62
including     494   496             2          1.9     5.22
MA-17-161      73    83            10          9.5     2.75
including      78    81             3          2.9     6.84
               95   155            60         57.0     3.84        2.78
including     102   106             4          3.8     6.17
including     110   119             9          8.6    11.90        6.21
including     126   127             1          1.0    44.84       33.00
including     154   155             1          1.0    13.56
              245   248             3          2.9     1.51
              272   294            22         20.9     2.41
including     276   282             6          5.7     4.68
including     285   286             1          1.0     4.58
              303   310             7          6.7     2.97
including     303   305             2          1.9     4.94
including     309   310             1          1.0     8.17

All of the samples were fire assayed at Eastern Analytical Laboratory Ltd. in Springdale, Nfld.

Marathon Gold acknowledges the financial support of the JEA program, Department of Natural Resources, government of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Research and Development Corp. of Newfoundland and Labrador has granted approximately 75 per cent of the costs of the current metallurgical program to Marathon Gold and the company appreciates this support.

Sherry Dunsworth, MSc, PGeo, vice-president of exploration, Marathon's qualified person, has reviewed the contents for accuracy and has approved this press release on behalf of Marathon. All core samples were collected using established quality assurance/quality control protocols including insertion of blanks, standards and duplicates at regular intervals in each sample batch. All reported core samples were analyzed for Au by fire assay (30 grams) with AA finish at Eastern Analytical, Springdale, Nfld. Significant mineralized intervals are reported in the table as core lengths and estimated true thicknesses (95 per cent of core length).

About Marathon Gold Corp.

Marathon Gold is a gold exploration company rapidly advancing its 100-per-cent-owned Valentine Lake gold camp located in Newfoundland. The Valentine Lake property currently hosts four near-surface, mainly pit shell constrained, gold resources totalling 1,060,100 ounces gold at 2.20 g/t (measured and indicated) and 200,000 ounces gold at 2.85 g/t (inferred) (April, 2015).

We seek Safe Harbor.