NEWS 8.15 g/t Au Over 20 MetresValentine Lake Joint Venture intersects New High-Grade Lens atLeprechaun Gold Deposit Grading 8.15 g/t Au Uncut Over 20 Metres (TW)in Upper Zone of Deposit
TORONTO and HALIFAX, Feb. 3 /CNW/ - Marathon Gold Corporation (TSX: MOZ) and Mountain Lake Resources Inc.(TSX-V: MOA) are pleased to announce very positive results from the first 5 diamonddrill holes of the 2011 Valentine Lake Property drilling campaign (see2011 drill hole plan map on either company's website). The drilling hasfocused in the NE portion of the Leprechaun Gold Deposit and hasresulted in the discovery of three new high-grade lenses including 8.15g/t uncut over 25m (45-70m) with 21.12 g/t uncut over 9m (45-54m) inVL-11-232. These new mineralized lenses are shallow dipping within thehanging wall zone of the deposit and at depths of less than 60m fromsurface. Main zone intercepts of up to 3.73 g/t over 20m including 5.39g/t over 10m were identified in VL-10-236. Marathon is the operator ofthe project.
The second drill rig, which started drilling at Valentine East late lastweek, has intersected quartz-tourmaline-pyrite veins in the first drillhole (VE-11-01).
Highlights:
- High-grade hanging wall lens in VL-11-232 graded 8.15 g/t uncut over 25m (45-70m) including 21.12 g/t uncut over 9m (45-54m)
- High grade hanging wall lens in VL-11-235 graded 14.97 uncut g/t over 3.97m (3.03-7m) including 61.03 g/t uncut over 0.97m (3.03-4m)
- Hanging wall lens in VL-11-236 graded 3.75 g/t over 11m (8-19m) including 8.04 g/t over 4m (8-12m)
- Main Zone intercept in VL-11-236 graded 3.73 g/t over 20m including 5.39 g/t over 10m
- Coarse (up to 1mm) free gold observed in VL-11-232 and VL-11-236 (see photos on either company's website)
- The ongoing infill drilling is expected to continue to increase the Measured and Indicated Resource for the Leprechaun Gold Deposit
- Drilling will continue in the NE part of the Leprechaun Deposit until site conditions allow for step out drilling further to the NE into the Sprite zone as well as westward into the hanging wall of the main deposit.
- Drilling has commenced at the Valentine East Zone with intersection of mineralized quartz-tourmaline-pyrite veins in the first drill hole (VE-11-01). The next planned drill hole (VE-11-02) will collar into an area between known mineralization and the contact zone where there is no historical drilling.
Sherry Dunsworth, V.P. Exploration for Marathon Gold says, "Theexploration program at Valentine Lake is off to an excellent start thisyear. We have intersected new high grade gold intercepts over wideintervals and that is with just 2% of this year's planned 25,000mdrilling campaign. The Leprechaun drilling is designed to upgradeinferred resources into measured and indicated resources as well asincreasing the overall resource. Marathon is looking forward to futureresults as we continue to step out testing targets at increased depthand along strike to the NE of the Leprechaun Gold Deposit as well as inthe Valentine East Zone."
TABLE 1: Significant New Gold Intercepts for Leprechaun Deposit:
| DDH | Section | Zone | From
(m) | To
(m) | Core Width
(m) | True Width
(m)* | Gold
Uncut (g/t) | Gold
Cut to 58
g/t** |
| VL-11-232 | 10450 | HW | 25 | 29 | 4 | 3.2 | 0.90 | 0.90 |
| VL-11-232 | 10450 | HW | 45 | 70 | 25 | 20.0 | 8.15 | 4.78 |
| including | 10450 | HW | 45 | 54 | 9 | 7.2 | 21.12 | 11.76 |
| including | 10450 | HW | 66 | 70 | 4 | 3.2 | 3.16 | 3.16 |
| VL-11-232 | 10450 | MZ | 97 | 100 | 3 | 2.4 | 1.10 | 1.10 |
| VL-11-233 | 10438 | HW | 30 | 33 | 3 | 2.7 | 1.14 | 1.14 |
| VL-11-233 | 10438 | HW | 54 | 58 | 4 | 3.6 | 2.27 | 2.27 |
| VL-11-233 | 10438 | MZ | 109 | 113 | 4 | 3.6 | 2.03 | 2.03 |
| VL-11-234 | 10463 | HW | 14 | 16 | 2 | 1.7 | 1.63 | 1.63 |
| VL-11-234 | 10463 | MZ | 38 | 45 | 7 | 6.0 | 0.81 | 0.81 |
| including | 10463 | MZ | 43 | 45 | 2 | 1.7 | 1.79 | 1.79 |
| VL-11-235 | 10438 | HW | 3.03 | 7 | 3.97 | 3.6 | 14.97 | 14.23 |
| including | 10438 | HW | 3.03 | 4 | 0.97 | 0.9 | 61.03 | 58.00 |
| VL-11-235 | 10438 | MZ | 52 | 56 | 4 | 3.6 | 0.55 | 0.55 |
| including | 10438 | MZ | 52 | 53 | 1 | 0.9 | 1.33 | 1.33 |
| VL-11-236 | 10413 | HW | 8 | 19 | 11 | 7.7 | 3.75 | 3.75 |
| including | 10413 | HW | 8 | 12 | 4 | 2.8 | 8.04 | 8.04 |
| VL-11-236 | 10413 | MZ | 46 | 58 | 12 | 8.4 | 3.87 | 3.87 |
| including | 10413 | MZ | 49 | 51 | 2 | 1.4 | 17.60 | 17.60 |
| VL-11-236 | 10413 | MZ | 63 | 83 | 20 | 14.0 | 3.73 | 3.73 |
| including | 10413 | MZ | 73 | 83 | 10 | 7.0 | 5.39 | 5.39 |
| including | 10413 | MZ | 82 | 83 | 1 | 0.7 | 14.73 | 14.73 |
| VL-11-236 | 10413 | MZ | 94 | 96 | 2 | 1.4 | 6.02 | 6.02 |
* Estimated true thicknesses, HW = hanging wall, MZ = main zone,
** 2 of the reported assay values were cut; historically the cuttingfactor is 58 g/t Au
Gary Woods, President and CEO of Mountain Lake added, "The presence ofsignificant gold intercepts in the hanging wall will be very importantto the economics of the project and will have a big impact on the oreto waste ratio in an open pit operation."
Leprechaun Gold Deposit: The Leprechaun Deposit has a new (Press Release, December 16, 2010) NI43-101 compliant Measured and Indicated Resource of 3,284,000 tonnesgrading 2.62 cut g/t gold for a total estimated 277,000 ounces of gold.The inferred mineral resource is 4,409,000 tonnes grading 2.01 cut g/tgold for an estimated 285,000 ounces of gold. The new resource wascalculated using a 0.5 g/t gold minimum cut-off and a 3 meter minimumwidth. The Leprechaun Gold Deposit is open at depth and along strikewith 74% of the current M & I ounces occurring within 150m of surface.
All of the samples were sent to Eastern Analytical Laboratory Ltd., inSpringdale, Newfoundland. Samples were assayed using lead collectionfire assay with AA (atomic absorption) finish. Results from fire assayare used for drill hole planning only. Assay results for the plannedupdate of the December, 2010 resource will be determined by an ongoingmetallic screening process. Due to the coarse nature of the gold at theLeprechaun Deposit, the metallic screening method is used oneconomically important intersections followed by standard fire assaytechniques. The reported values in this release are fire assay results.
Valentine East Zone: Valentine East is a gold zone located 13 km along strike to thenortheast of the Leprechaun Deposit. Twenty-one widely spaced drillholes tested the zone over a strike length of 800 m. Most of thedrilling was focused on mineralization approximately 250 m northwest ofthe sedimentary contact with the gold bearing granite. These holesindicated potential for wide zones of low-grade gold mineralizationnear surface. The best hole was VL99-17, which intersected 61.06 mgrading 1.09 g/t, however 39.91 m of that intercept was not sampled andwas therefore added as zeros values to the grade calculation. Thecurrent program will test the potential of this zone and the 250 m ofrock to the sedimentary contact where some gold has been found onsurface and in 4 historical drill holes drilled along thegranite/sedimentary contact.
Sherry Dunsworth, M.Sc., P. Geo., VP of Exploration, is Marathon'sQualified Person in compliance with National Instrument 43-101 withrespect to this release. Ms. Dunsworth has reviewed the contents foraccuracy and has approved this press release on behalf of Marathon.
Gary Woods, P. Geo, President and CEO, is Mountain Lake's QualifiedPerson and has reviewed and approved the contents of this news releaseon behalf of Mountain Lake.