Mr. Matt Manson reports

MARATHON GOLD ANNOUNCES EXPANDED DRILL PROGRAM AT BERRY ZONE, VALENTINE GOLD PROJECT

Marathon Gold Corp.'s continuing exploration program currently under way at the Valentine gold project in central Newfoundland will be expanded to include an additional 8,000 metres of dedicated infill drilling at the new Berry zone. The aim of this new drilling will be to obtain sufficient density of data to support the zone's first mineral resource estimate, expected by early next year.

Matt Manson, president and chief executive officer, commented: "The Valentine gold project mine plan, which forms the basis of our ongoing feasibility study and environmental assessment, is based on open-pit mining of the Marathon and Leprechaun deposits over a 12-year mine life. This is the project we intend to develop. Since late 2019, our exploration drill program has been focused on new discovery, with a view to future, near-surface mineral resources becoming available by year 9 of the mine plan. This program involves high risk greenfield exploration in areas that are prospective for gold mineralization but previously undertested. By the end of November we will have drilling information for the first time along the full six kilometres of the Sprite corridor between Leprechaun and Marathon, with at first one, and shortly two, drill rigs working steadily on broad stepout holes along the contact of the Valentine Lake shear zone. During the course of this program it has become clear that the new Berry zone, located centrally within the Sprite corridor and immediately adjacent to the proposed location of our mill, is standing out as an area of high priority. With today's news, we will now be committing a third exploration drill rig to focus on Berry infill drilling. If successful, this program will yield the first mineral resource estimate to emerge from this discovery-oriented campaign."

The drilling conducted to date at the Berry zone has outlined extensive gold mineralization contained within shallowly southwest-dipping, en echelon stacked quartz-tourmaline-pyrite-gold (QTP-Au) veins. In a manner now characteristic of the project, these veins form steeply northwest-plunging Main zone envelopes on the hangingwall (NW) side of the Valentine Lake shear zone. Mineralization of this type has now been intersected over a 650-metre strike extent.

Recent notable drill intersections at Berry, from holes oriented either steeply down through Main zone QTP-Au stacking toward the northwest or oblique across Main zone mineralization towards the southeast, include:

• 3.33 grams per tonne gold over 120.0 metres and 3.37 g/t Au over 36.0 metres (VL-20-823 and VL-20-824, respectively, news release dated July 22, 2020);
• 2.96 g/t Au over 47 metres and 2.23 g/t Au over 30 metres (VL-20-835 and VL-20-834, respectively, news release dated Aug. 17, 2020);
• 2.24 g/t Au over 55.0 m (VL-20-799, news release dated March 2, 2020);
• 7.60 g/t Au over 22.0 metres (VL-19-786, news release dated Dec. 18, 2019);
• 8.06 g/t Au over 14.0 metres (VL-20-806, news release dated April 15, 2020).

All quoted intersections comprise uncut gold assays in core lengths. Please refer to the cited news releases for details on quality control and assurance procedures, estimated true thicknesses and the application of cut-offs.

The Berry infill drill program will comprise 8,000 metres in approximately 55 holes, with a view to obtaining an average drill density of 25 metres over a strike length of 450 metres. The budget allocated to this new program is $1.3-million, bringing the total expenditure for exploration at the Valentine gold project in 2020 to $10.2-million and the total metreage of exploration drilling to be completed to 52,000 metres. An additional 3,000 metres of condemnation drilling has already been completed, and drilling for geotechnical, metallurgical and hydrogeological studies is continuing or scheduled.

The Berry infill program will commence immediately.

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.

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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