Marathon Gold Completes $5.5 Million Bought Deal, Unit and Flow-Through Private Placement

/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES/

TORONTO, Dec. 12, 2012 /CNW/ - Marathon Gold Corporation ("Marathon" or the "Company") (MOZ: TSX) is pleased to announce the closing of the bought deal private placement previously announced on November 19, 2012 pursuant to which Marathon sold (i) 5,474,500 units (the "Units") at a price of $0.55 per Unit with each Unit consisting of one common share of the Company (the "Unit Shares") and one half of one common share purchase warrant of the Company (each whole warrant a "Warrant"), each Warrant, exercisable for one common share of the Company ("Warrant Share"), for a period of 24 months from the closing date at a price of $0.75 per Warrant Share and (ii) 3,873,000 flow-through common shares ("Flow-Through Shares") at a price of $0.63 per Flow-Through Share for aggregate gross proceeds of $5,450,965 (the "Offering").

The Offering was conducted by a syndicate of underwriters led by Canaccord Genuity Corp., which included Haywood Securities Inc. and Fraser Mackenzie Limited (the "Underwriters").  The Company will use the net proceeds from the Offering to advance the assets of the Company and for general working capital purposes. The gross proceeds from the sale of the Flow-Through Shares will be used to incur "Canadian exploration expenses" as defined in the Income Tax Act (Canada) ("Act").

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the securities described herein in the United States.  The securities described herein have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, a person in the United States or a "U.S. person" (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act) absent an exemption from such registration requirements..

About the Valentine Lake Project

Marathon Gold Corporation is now the 100% owner of the Valentine Lake Project.  The Leprechaun Gold Deposit is situated at the south-western end of the Valentine Lake Project, and the Valentine East Gold Zone is located 17 kilometers along strike running in a north-easterly direction.  The J. Frank Zone, which currently extends over an area in excess of 1.25 kilometers in length and 250 meters in width, is located up to 0.5 kilometers southwest along strike from the current Resource boundary of the Leprechaun Gold Deposit.  These gold occurrences form part of a 23 kilometer long, highly prospective gold-bearing mineralized corridor focused along the Valentine Lake thrust fault.

About the Leprechaun Gold Deposit

The Leprechaun Gold Deposit has a combined NI 43-101 compliant Measured and Indicated Resource of 9.537,000 tonnes grading 2.22 g/t Au, for a total estimated 682,000 ounces of Au. The Inferred Resource is 1,959,000 tonnes grading 2.30 g/t Au, for an estimated 145,000 ounces of Au.  This Resource was estimated using a 0.5 g/t Au minimum cut-off for open pit resources and 1.5 g/t Au for underground resources.  The Leprechaun Gold Deposit is open at depth and along strike.

About Marathon Gold Corporation

Marathon Gold Corporation is a North American gold resource development company, with projects located in the mining friendly province of Newfoundland and Labrador, the prolific Coeur d'Alene Mining District of Idaho and the historic gold rich Greenhorn District of Oregon, USA.  Marathon has a project pipeline consisting of early stage exploration to advanced resource development projects.  Marathon is continually evaluating new gold resource development projects of merit that are located within the Americas.  Marathon's focused and low-cost approach to exploration and resource development has an established record of delivering rapid growth.  For more information visit: www.marathon-gold.com.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Except for statements of historical fact relating to Marathon Gold Corporation, 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 Corporation'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.

SOURCE Marathon Gold Corporation