Mr. Phillip Walford reports

MARATHON DRILLS HIGH-GRADE INTERVALS AT THE MARATHON (4.79 G/T AU OVER 19 METERS) AND LEPRECHAUN DEPOSITS (5.30 G/T AU OVER 11 METERS) VALENTINE LAKE GOLD CAMP

Marathon Gold Corp. has released new drilling results from the summer 2017 drilling program at the Marathon deposit and Leprechaun deposit, Valentine Lake gold camp, central Newfoundland. Drilling at the Marathon deposit successfully intersected high-grade gold intervals at depths within the main mineralized corridor with 4.97 grams per tonne gold over 19.0 metres in MA-17-180, 4.55 g/t Au over 13.0 metres in MA-17-181 toward the northeast end of the current deposit and 9.94 g/t Au over five metres in MA-17-179 and 3.91 g/t Au over 11 metres in MA-17-178 toward the southwest end of the deposit. Drilling along the southwest end of the Leprechaun deposit succeeded in intersecting high-grade gold in downdip extension of the main zone of mineralization with 5.30 g/t Au over 11.0 metres and 4.75 g/t Au over 4.0 metres in VL-17-643. Drilling continues at both the Marathon and Leprechaun deposits with a fourth drill rig starting up in early July, 2017.

Drilling highlights:

• Marathon deposit drill holes MA-17-180 and MA-17-181 drilled across the main mineralized corridor in the northeastern portion of the Marathon deposit, intersecting high-grade intervals to help deepen the open pit with 4.79 g/t Au over 19.0 metres including 20.38 g/t Au over 3.0 metres in MA-17-180 and 4.55 g/t Au over 13.0 metres including 11.76 g/t Au over 3.0 metres in MA-17-181.
• Marathon deposit drill holes MA-17-178 and MA-17-179 drilled along the outer margin of the main mineralized corridor in the southwestern portion of the Marathon deposit, intersecting high-grade intervals with 3.91 g/t Au over 11.0 metres including 10.52 g/t Au over 3.0 metres in MA-17-178 and 9.94 g/t Au over 5.0 metres including 19.88 g/t Au over 2.0 metres in MA-17-179.
• Leprechaun deposit drill holes succeeded in intersecting high-grade gold in infill and downdip extensions of the main zone of mineralization including 5.30 g/t Au over 11.0 metres with 10.77 g/t Au over 3.0 metres and 4.75 g/t Au over 4.0 metres with 13.34 g/t Au over 1.0 metre in VL-17-643, and 9.92 g/t Au over 3.0 metres in VL-17-641.
• Drilling continues at both the Marathon and Leprechaun deposits with the additional of the fourth drill rig which arrives on July 8. The three drill rigs will be drilling continuously at the Marathon deposit, one drilling the southwestern extension of the open-pit resource and the other two completing some infill drilling and resource expansion drilling in and below the pit shell for this month. The drill at the Leprechaun deposit will continue with resource expansion for this month. The 60,000-metre drilling program to further expand both the open-pit and underground resources at the Marathon and Leprechaun deposits is well under way.

"We are very pleased with the continued drilling success as we intersect new shallow open pit as well as deeper underground mineralization at the Marathon and Leprechaun deposits," said Phillip Walford, president and chief executive officer of Marathon. "Our current aggressive 60,000-metre drilling campaign will expand the Leprechaun deposit to depth and the Marathon deposit along strike to the southwest and to depth. Our crew and camp facilities have been expanded to accommodate the increase to four drills on-site as we work towards significantly expanding the property wide resources at the Valentine Lake gold camp."

          SIGNIFICANT FIRE ASSAY INTERVALS FROM DRILL HOLES 
            MA-17-176 TO MA-17-178, MARATHON GOLD DEPOSIT, 
                       VALENTINE LAKE GOLD CAMP 

DDH            From    To   Core length     True thickness        Gold
No.             (m)   (m)           (m)                (m)       (g/t)

MA-17-178*      748   759            11               10.5        3.91
including       756   759             3                2.9       10.52
MA-17-179       242   245             3                2.9        1.38
                262   265             3                2.9        1.61
                313   316             3                2.9        2.33
                334   338             4                3.8        1.92
                367   372             5                4.8        9.94
including       367   369             2                1.9       19.88
MA-17-180       149   153             4                3.4        2.00
                345   364            19               16.2        4.97
including       345   348             3                2.6       20.38
                390   393             3                2.6        2.32
MA-17-181       353   366            13               11.1        4.55
including       363   366             3                2.6       11.76
VL-17-641       198   201             3                2.7        9.92
                226   229             3                2.7        3.47
VL-17-642        68    71             3                2.7        1.22
                249   252             3                2.7        1.34
VL-17-643       154   157             3                2.7        3.14
                244   248             4                3.6        4.75
including       244   245             1                0.9       13.34
                259   270            11                9.9        5.30
including       259   262             3                2.7       10.77
including       268   270             2                1.8       10.57

* Part of MA-17-178 previously released.         

Acknowledgments

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

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 were analyzed for Au by fire assay (30 grams) 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 thicknesses (75 per cent to 95 per cent of core length).

About Marathon Gold Corp.

Marathon is a 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 gold resources totalling 1,388,200 ounces gold at 1.91 g/t (measured and indicated) and 766,500 ounces gold at 2.24 g/t (inferred) (February, 2017).

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