Mr.
Matt Manson reports
MARATHON GOLD REPORTS ADDITIONAL DRILL RESULTS FROM BERRY ZONE AT THE VALENTINE GOLD PROJECT
Marathon Gold Corp. has released drill results from recent exploration drilling at the Valentine gold project, central Newfoundland. These latest results represent fire assay data from the latest nine drill holes completed in the new Berry zone, located within the six-kilometre-long Sprite corridor. Highlights include:
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VL-20-835 intersected 2.96 grams per tonne gold over 47 metres, including 7.55 g/t Au over 14 metres, and 32.25 g/t Au over one metre, and 27.00 g/t Au over one metre.
- VL-20-834 intersected 2.23 g/t Au over 30 metres, including 6.53 g/t Au over eight metres.
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VL-20-829 intersected 2.12 g/t Au over 20 metres, including 16.89 g/t Au over one metre, and 2.26 g/t Au over 10 metres, and 1.03 g/t Au over 17 metres, and 1.02 g/t Au over 11 metres.
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VL-20-831 intersected 1.82 g/t Au over 10 metres.
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VL-20-830 intersected 0.93 g/t Au over 14 metres.
All quoted intersections comprise uncut gold assays in core lengths. All significant assay intervals are reported in the associated table.
Matt Manson, president and chief executive officer, commented: "The latest batch of drill assays from the new Berry zone include additional long intersections of high-grade mineralization. The mineralization occurs in the familiar geological setting: quartz-tourmaline-pyrite veining developed in the hangingwall of the Valentine Lake shear zone within Main zone-type configurations. The drilling is establishing broad continuity between 50-metre sections, and has extended the zone to approximately 650 metres in strike length." Mr. Manson continued: "Our 2020 exploration program is focused on new discovery, with broad stepout holes into previously untested areas. Currently, one drill rig is progressing steadily northeastwards from Berry to the area of the Frozen Ear Pond Road, approximately 1.5 kilometres from where we started in January. An additional drill rig is scheduled to be mobilized in early September, exploring southwestwards from the margin of the Marathon deposit towards Frozen Ear Pond Road. At the end of this campaign we will have drilling information along the full six kilometres of the Sprite corridor between Leprechaun and Marathon. This is high-risk, greenfield exploration, with no certainty of success. However, the results achieved to date at the Berry zone give confidence in the potential for additional discoveries along this highly prospective trend."
Previous drilling in the Berry zone has outlined extensive gold mineralization contained within shallowly southwest-dipping, en echelon stacked quartz-tourmaline-pyrite-gold (QTP-Au) veins that are characteristic of the Valentine gold project. These QTP-Au veins form steeply northwest-plunging Main zone envelopes within quartz-eye porphyry host rocks on the hangingwall (northwest) side of the Valentine Lake shear zone. The extent of mineralization appears related to the size and frequency of sheared mafic dikes, which extend northeast-southwest within the hangingwall, parallel to the shear zone.
The nine drill holes released today represent both stepout and infill drilling over a broad length of the Berry zone. They extend the strike length of drill-intersected mineralization to approximately 650 metres, from sections 13350E to 14000E. An area of particularly intense mineralization has now been intersected by several drill holes between sections 13600E and 13800E where QTP-Au veining is concentrated in a 30-to-50-metre-wide zone between a large mafic dike and the shear zone contact (that is, Section 13790E and Section 13690E from Marathon's news release dated July 22, 2020).
These latest results are derived from drill holes oriented steeply down through Main zone QTP-Au stacking toward the northwest (VL-20-829, 830, 831, 834 and 835), oblique drill holes across Main zone mineralization toward the southeast (VL-20-828 and 833), and one drill hole collared in the hangingwall and oriented toward the northwest (VL-20-836). Eight of the nine holes returned significant drill intersections of greater than 0.7 g/t Au, and each of the nine drill holes returned drill intersections with gold grades above the 0.3 g/t Au cut-off used in the January, 2020, mineral resource estimate for the project. No significant mineralization was encountered in drill hole VL-20-832, which was collared in the metasediments of the southeastern, footwall side of the Valentine Lake shear zone.
SIGNIFICANT ASSAY INTERVALS, SPRITE CORRIDOR, VALENTINE GOLD PROJECT
DDH From To Core length True thickness Gold Gold (cut)
(m) (m) (m) (m) (g/t) (g/t)
VL-20-828 7 9 2 1.5 1.12
21 22 1 0.75 0.91
38 41 3 2.25 1.18
102 104 2 1.5 1.13
126 129 3 2.25 1.56
VL-20-829 13 24 11 10.45 1.02
29 32 3 2.85 2.93
61 63 2 1.9 11.66
103 104 1 0.95 1.88
108 109 1 0.95 0.76
117 118 1 0.95 17.52
141 143 2 1.9 10.49
150 167 17 16.15 1.03
174 194 20 19 2.12
including 181 182 1 0.95 16.89
212 213 1 0.95 2.22
273 283 10 9.5 2.26
290 291 1 0.95 1.11
VL-20-830 27 28 1 0.95 0.82
55 56 1 0.95 11.77
82 96 14 13.3 0.93
113 114 1 0.95 0.71
134 135 1 0.95 0.76
154 155 1 0.95 1.86
164 166 2 1.9 2.43
VL-20-831 16 17 1 0.95 1.30
75 76 1 0.95 2.62
84 94 10 9.5 1.82
102 103 1 0.95 1.17
201 202 1 0.95 1.31
228 230 2 1.9 1.89
259 261 2 1.9 1.58
VL-20-833 59 60 1 0.85 3.76
71 72 1 0.85 1.58
78 79 1 0.85 0.72
VL-20-834 13 15 2 1.9 2.22
121 151 30 28.5 2.23
126 134 8 7.6 6.53
186 187 1 0.95 0.72
VL-20-835 16 20 4 3.8 1.55
33 34 1 0.95 32.25 30.00
49 50 1 0.95 9.89
76 80 4 3.8 1.30
100 101 1 0.95 10.46
111 112 1 0.95 10.11
146 147 1 0.95 27.00
154 156 2 1.9 5.90
166 213 47 44.65 2.96 2.41
including 166 180 14 13.3 7.55 5.69
VL-20-836 43 44 1 0.95 0.83
96 97 1 0.95 1.09
Notes on the calculation of assay intervals
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Significant assay intervals are defined as one m 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, 2020, prefeasibility study mine plan (see technical report dated April 21, 2020). 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 January, 2020, mineral resource estimate for the project but are not considered significant for the purposes of this news release.
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No significant assays were returned in drill hole VL-20-832.
Qualified person
Disclosure of a scientific or technical nature in this news release was prepared under the supervision of Nicholas Capps, PGeo (Newfoundland), project manager for exploration at the Valentine gold project. Exploration data quality assurance and control for Marathon are under the supervision of Jessica Borysenko, PGeo (Newfoundland), GIS manager for Marathon Gold. Both Mr. Capps and Ms. Borysenko are qualified persons under National Instrument 43-101.
Quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC)
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 Ltd. in Springdale, Nfld. All reported core samples are analyzed for Au by fire assay (30 g) with atomic absorption 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 the associated table as core lengths and estimated true thickness (70 to 95 per cent of core length), and reported with and without a top cut of 30 g/t Au applied.
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 the central region of Newfoundland and Labrador, one of the top mining jurisdictions in the world. The project comprises a series of four mineralized deposits along a 20-kilometre system. An April, 2020, prefeasibility study outlined an open-pit mining and conventional milling operation over a 12-year mine life with a 36-per-cent after-tax rate of return. The project has estimated proven mineral reserves of 1.3 million ounces (26.3 million tonnes at 1.52 g/t) and probable mineral reserves of 600,000 ounces (14.8 mt at 1.23 g/t). Total measured mineral resources (inclusive of the mineral reserves) comprise 1.9 million ounces (31.7 mt at 1.86 g/t) with indicated mineral resources (inclusive of the mineral reserves) of 1.19 million ounces (23.2 mt at 1.60 g/t).
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