Marathon and Leprechaun Deposits Amenable to Heap Leach With High Gold Extraction From Minus Half Inch Short Column Testing

TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - September 14, 2016) - Marathon Gold Corp. ("Marathon" or the "Company") (TSX: MOZ) has completed the short column heap leaching test program and reports high gold extraction on the core samples from the lower grade zones of both the Marathon and Leprechaun deposits, Valentine Gold Camp, central Newfoundland. The Leprechaun and Marathon deposits comprise 92% of the total current resource for the property. The on-going drilling campaign has been increased from 10,000 meters to 14,000 meters.

In addition to conventional preconcentration and gold leaching processing technologies under development for the high grade zones, Marathon Gold is developing a fully integrated processing strategy that may include heap leach processing of the low grade zones from the Marathon and Leprechaun deposits.

Thibault & Associates Inc., has completed the short column leach tests to assess heap leaching conditions on both minus half inch and minus three quarter inch crushed samples. The assessment of data from the minus three quarter inch leach program is in progress. The short column leach tests on the half inch crush samples indicate that low grade material from both the Marathon and Leprechaun deposits are amenable to heap leaching technologies.

Gold extractions after 130 days have been reported at 66.0% for the Marathon sample containing 1.83 grams per tonne gold and 72.7% for the Leprechaun sample containing 1.66 grams per tonne of gold. The short column leach extraction curves as illustrated in Figure 1 demonstrates that the majority of the gold is extracted within a 50 day period and gold extraction continues at a slower rate in excess of 100 days.

Phillip C. Walford, P. Geo., President and CEO of Marathon stated, "The initial assessment of heap leach process technology for the low grade zones from the Marathon and Leprechaun deposits holds promise. It is noteworthy that gold was still being liberated at a slow rate when the tests were concluded. We will have to carefully study the trade-offs of higher cost higher recovery conventional milling and high gold extraction versus the much lower capital costs and operating costs of a heap leach operation at lower gold recoveries. It is very important for the project economics to have these options available to us as we move to a PEA. Marathon would like to thank Research & Development Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador for their financial support in the development of the process technology for the Valentine Lake deposits."

Qualified Person

J. Dean Thibault, P. Eng., Senior Process Chemical Engineer and Principal of Thibault & Associates Inc., (www.thibault-process-engineering.ca) located in Fredericton, New Brunswick, is a registered professional engineer in Newfoundland and Labrador and is acting as a Qualified Person in compliance with National Instrument 43-101, with respect to the metallurgical information contained in this release and has reviewed the contents for accuracy.

About Marathon Gold Corporation

Marathon is a Toronto based gold resource company focused on its 100% owned Valentine Gold Camp located in central Newfoundland. The Valentine Gold Camp currently hosts four near-surface, mainly pit-shell constrained, gold resources totalling 1,060,100 oz. gold at 2.20 g/t (Measured & Indicated) and 200,000 oz. gold at 2.85 g/t (Inferred), (April 2015). These resources, open along strike and to depth, cover less than 10% of the total length of the highly prospective Valentine Lake Thrust Fault and associated splay faults which host the majority of the gold mineralization within the property.

Marathon acknowledges the financial support of the Junior Exploration Assistance Program, Department of Natural Resources, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Research & Development Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador's support of Marathon's ongoing metallurgical research and development activities.

For more information please visit www.marathon-gold.com.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Except for statements of historical fact relating to Marathon Gold Corp., certain information contained herein constitutes "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements include statements that are predictive in nature, depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, or include words such as "expects", "anticipates", "plans", "believes", "considers", "intends", "targets", or negative versions thereof and other similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as "may", "will", "should", "would" and "could". We provide forward-looking statements for the purpose of conveying information about our current expectations and plans relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. By its nature, this information is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may be general or specific and which give rise to the possibility that expectations, forecasts, predictions, projections or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that assumptions may not be correct and that objectives, strategic goals and priorities will not be achieved. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to those identified and reported in Marathon Gold Corp.'s public filings, which may be accessed at www.sedar.com. Other than as specifically required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, whether as a result of new information, future events, results or otherwise.

Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/9/14/11G114077/Images/Sept_14th_Heap_Leach_Graph-ce2dab7f8805b2168f3abbe42940644b.jpg

Contact

For more information, please contact:

Christopher Haldane
Investor Relations Manager
Tel: 1-416-987-0714
E-mail: chaldane@marathon-gold.com

Phillip Walford
President and Chief Executive Officer
Tel: 1-416-987-0711
E-mail: pwalford@marathon-gold.com