Mr. Matt Manson reports

MARATHON GOLD ANNOUNCES RECOMMENCEMENT OF VALENTINE GOLD PROJECT EXPLORATION

Marathon Gold Corp. has recommenced exploration activities at its Valentine gold project exploration camp in central Newfoundland. This follows the successful move to the COVID-19 alert Level 3 announced by the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Health and Community Services on June 8, 2020.

Marathon intends to recommence site activities in a staged approach, beginning with one drill rig and support functions, and moving to three drill rigs over the coming weeks. Enhanced safety protocols for site access as well as camp and field-based activities have been established, and camp facilities will be expanded to allow for dedicated accommodation for each employee supported by additional housekeeping staff. As of June 8, Newfoundland and Labrador had experienced a total of 261 cases of COVID-19 infection. Two active cases are currently reported in the province, with no new cases having been reported over the previous 11-day period.

As of March 14, 2020, when the Valentine camp was closed, Marathon had completed approximately 9,500 metres of exploration drilling from a planned 2020 program of 44,000 m budgeted at $8.9-million (Marathon news release dated Feb. 3, 2020). This included approximately 5,000 m in 24 drill holes out of a planned 32,000 m within the six-kilometre-long Sprite corridor located between the Leprechaun and Marathon deposits. This corridor includes the promising new Berry zone where winter drilling confirmed the presence of characteristic main zone-type quartz-tourmaline-pyrite-gold (QTP-Au) vein mineralization over multiple sections.

The immediate priority of the renewed drill program will be a return to the Berry zone, followed by stepout holes northeastward along the trace of the adjacent Valentine Lake shear zone toward the Frozen Ear Pond (FEP) road. Once completed, stepout drilling will be extended northeastward for the first time from the FEP road to the southwest margin of the Marathon deposit, a 1.5 km interval of high exploration potential that has never been drilled. Once completed, this program will give: (1) an indication of the opportunity for future open pittable mineral resources in close proximity to the proposed Valentine gold project mill; (2) the lateral extent of main zone-type gold mineralization at Berry; and (3) the southwestward extent of mineralization at the Marathon deposit.

The 2020 exploration program also included 12,000 m of exploration drilling in two areas located south of the Valentine Lake shear zone in footwall metasedimentary rocks that have not previously been drilled. Widely spaced drill holes in these areas will test the potential for economic occurrences of gold mineralization extending into footwall rocks, potentially associated with structures secondary to the main Valentine Lake shear zone. As of March 14, 2020, approximately 4,500 m in 33 drill holes had been completed in footwall area 1. These two footwall areas also represent the expected sites for the Leprechaun open-pit waste rock storage area, the main tailings storage facility and the mill. As such, drilling here will serve the separate purpose of site condemnation. An additional approximately 3,000 m of condemnation drilling has already been completed in the proposed area of the Marathon open-pit waste rock storage area.

In addition to the exploration and site condemnation drilling, Marathon will conduct geotechnical and hydrogeological drill programs focused on the Leprechaun and Marathon pit areas, and site-wide major facility locations such as the mill and the proposed tailings storage facility. These programs are in support of continuing feasibility-level engineering studies. Additional site activities will include continued environmental baseline studies, prospecting and trenching.

Qualified person

Disclosure of a scientific or technical nature in this news release was prepared under the supervision of Nicholas Capps, PGeo (Nfld.), project manager for exploration at the Valentine gold project and a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101.

Acknowledgments

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

About Marathon Gold Corp.

Marathon is a Toronto-based gold company advancing its 100-per-cent-owned Valentine gold project located in central Newfoundland, one of the top mining jurisdictions in the world.

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