Marathon Drills New Gold Zone at Sprite Hitting 2.20 g/t Au over 16.8 meters True Thickness

TORONTO, Feb. 19, 2014 /CNW/ - Marathon Gold Corporation ("Marathon" or the "Company") (TSX: MOZ) today announced the intersection of wide intervals of near-surface gold mineralization during exploration drilling in a recently discovered QTP-rich occurrence in the Sprite Area of the Valentine Lake Project (Figure 1). The drilling delineated abundant QTP veining with visible gold over a strike length of more than 100 meters. This is the best mineralization found in the Sprite Area to date. The next phase of winter 2014 drilling will focus on exploring along strike and down-dip of this exciting new gold zone in the Valentine Lake Property.

Highlights include:

• Near surface intercepts of 2.20 g/t Au over 16.8 meters true thickness (TT) including 7.36 g/t Au over 1.2 meters (TT) and 6.98 g/t Au over 1.2 meters (TT), and 2.26 g/t Au over 7.2 meters (TT) including 10.02 g/t Au over 1.2 meters (TT) in VL-14-542.
  
  
• Near surface intercepts of 2.80 g/t Au over 18.4 meters (TT) including 38.69 g/t Au over 1.20 meters (TT) in VL-14-543.
  
  
• Additional wide low-grade Au intercepts of 1.29 g/t Au over 7.9 meters (TT) in VL-14-541 and 0.76 g/t Au over 9.6 meters (TT) in VL-14-544.
  
  
• The current area of exploration drilling covers just 200 meters of a more than 1 kilometer long by up to 250 meter wide gold mineralized alteration halo identified during the 2013 prospecting program. Assays are pending for VL-14-545 to VL-14-547 (Figure 1).
  
  
• The next phase of winter 2014 drilling in the Sprite NE area will focus on exploring along strike and down-dip of this newly discovered gold-QTP zone as we work towards building another open pit resource in the Valentine Lake Property.
  
  
• The recent SRK structural study commissioned by Marathon for the Valentine Lake property noted magnetic low areas interpreted as fault splays off the Valentine Lake thrust fault. The Leprechaun and Victory Gold deposits as well as this recent Sprite discovery and numerous other gold occurrences all appear to be spatially associated with magnetic lows. Future work will continue to systematically explore the new prospecting and geophysical targets throughout the property.
  
  
• Additional winter 2014 drilling will continue with step-out and exploration drilling at the Victory Gold deposit.

"With these new wide, near-surface gold intersections we are well on our way to developing another open-pit resource at the Valentine Lake. The combination of the geophysical interpretation of the magnetic data followed by prospecting focused on possible gold bearing fault splays could be very important in advancing the property", said Phillip Walford, President and CEO of Marathon. "The Valentine Lake property has all the elements to be Newfoundland's next Gold Camp."

TABLE 1: Significant Assay Intervals from drill holes VL-14-541 to VL-14-544, Sprite Zone.

Sherry Dunsworth, M.Sc., P. Geo., VP of Exploration, Marathon's Qualified Person, has reviewed the contents for accuracy and has approved this press release on behalf of Marathon.

All of the samples were analyzed at Eastern Analytical Laboratory Ltd., in Springdale, Newfoundland.

About Marathon Gold Corporation

Marathon is a Toronto based gold resource development company focused on the Valentine Lake property in central Newfoundland. Marathon's mission is to rapidly advance the Valentine Lake project towards advanced exploration and pre-development stages. For more information visit: www.marathon-gold.com.

About the Valentine Lake Project

The Valentine Lake property, owned 100% by Marathon Gold Corporation, hosts two well defined gold deposits with NI 43-101 compliant resources: the Leprechaun Gold Deposit and the Victory Gold Deposit. The Leprechaun Gold Deposit is located near the south-western end of the Valentine Lake property, and the Victory Gold Deposit is located 13 kilometers along strike to the north-east.  These gold deposits form part of a 23 km long, highly prospective gold-bearing mineralized corridor focused along the Valentine Lake Thrust Fault.

The Leprechaun Gold Deposit has a NI 43-101 compliant Open Pit and Underground Resource (refer to August 1, 2013 news release). The Open Pit Resource is Measured 3.5 million tonnes containing 247,000 oz Au, and Indicated 6.2 million tonnes containing 412,000 oz Au, and Inferred 1.2 million tonnes at 1.82 g/t Au containing 71,000 oz Au. The Underground Resource is Measured 108,000 tonnes containing 17,000 oz Au, and Indicated 764,000 tonnes containing 100,000 oz Au, and Inferred 349,000 tonnes containing 69,000 oz Au.

The Victory Gold Deposit (formerly Valentine East Hill) has an Open Pit Resource (refer to August 1, 2013 news release). The Open Pit Resource is Indicated 761,000 tonnes containing 41,000 oz Au, and Inferred 199,000 tonnes containing 9,000 oz Au. Both deposits are open to expansion.

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

Image with caption: "Figure 1: Location map of Sprite Zone showing the collar position of VL-14-541 to VL-14-547, 2013 prospecting and channel samples, and alteration corridor. Note: Assays pending for drill holes VL-14-545 to VL-14-547. (CNW Group/Marathon Gold Corporation)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20140219_C5199_PHOTO_EN_36839.jpg