Trenching And Drilling Results From Narrows Prospect

TORONTO - Marathon Gold Corporation reported prospecting and drilling results from recent exploration at the Valentine Gold Project, central Newfoundland. These latest results represent fire assay data from six grab samples collected from trenches and fourteen drill holes located at the Narrows Prospect, a new greenfield area of exploration located approximately 2 kilometers northeast of the Project’s Marathon Deposit. As part of the 2020 exploration program at the Valentine Gold Project, 250 meters of exploration trenching was completed in the Narrows area based on encouraging surface prospecting that had been conducted in previous field seasons. The trenching was located within quartz-eye porphyry hanging wall rocks adjacent to the Valentine Lake Shear Zone and revealed the style of Quartz-Tourmaline-Pyrite (QTP) veining with visible gold that is characteristic of the Project. Five QTP samples taken from the trenches returned anomalous fire assay gold values, and one sample from a nearby outcrop of QTP veining returned a fire assay value of 453.32 g/t gold.

An initial reconnaissance drill program of 2,260 meters in fourteen drill holes was subsequently undertaken to locate the shear zone contact in the area and to explore for additional QTP-Au mineralization at depth. This drilling returned sporadic intervals of QTP-Au veining, with ten of fourteen holes returning intercepts with fire assay gold values characterized as “significant” (averaging greater than 0.7 g/t Au).

Matt Manson, President & CEO, said, “These latest results from the Valentine Gold Project relate to the grassroots component of our 2020 exploration program. The Narrows area, located northeast of the Marathon Deposit, had been identified from surface prospecting in the past, and is one of several locations within a 20km long interval of the Valentine Lake Shear Zone that we had identified for further work. The results confirm the presence of gold bearing quartz-tourmaline-pyrite veining in the hanging wall rocks of the Narrows, and merit follow-up. While we do not yet see the tightly stacked, “Main Zone” type mineralization developed at the Marathon and Leprechaun Deposits, and at the new Berry Zone, the Narrows results demonstrate the considerable extent of the gold-mineralizing system at Valentine. Our 2021 exploration program will include additional test programs in greenfield areas outside of the currently delineated mineral deposits. Upcoming results that remain to be released from our 2020 exploration program include assays from 9,155 meters of drilling in forty-five holes from the 1.5km long Berry Zone. These results are expected to be released in batches through the end of January 2021. A first mineral resource estimate for Berry is expected towards the end of Q1 2021.”

Gold mineralization at the Valentine Gold Project is contained predominantly within shallowly southwest dipping, en-echelon stacked QTP-Au veins. At the Leprechaun and Marathon Deposits, as well as at the new Berry Zone, these QTP-Au veins form densely stacked and northwest plunging Main Zone envelopes within intrusive host rocks on the hanging wall (northwest) side of the Valentine Lake Shear Zone. The extent of mineralization appears related to the size and frequency of sheared mafic dykes which extend northeast-southwest within the hanging wall, parallel to the shear zone. Exploration drilling is generally undertaken in two orientations: down steeply towards the northwest at a high angle to the individual veins and down-plunge of the Main Zone stacking, or obliquely towards the southeast sub-parallel to the individual veins and across the strike of Main Zone mineralization.

The drill results are derived from fourteen drill holes located within the Narrows Prospect between sections 18870E and 19510E. As an initial reconnaissance drill program in this area, ten holes were located within hanging wall rocks and oriented to the southeast to first locate the footwall contact at the Valentine Lake Shear Zone (NR-20-001, 002, 003, 004, 005, 006, 007, 008, 009 and 014; Figure 2). Once located, four drill holes were positioned north of the contact to drill steeply down to the northwest, testing for Main Zone type stacked QTP-Au mineralization (NR-20-010, 011, 012 and 013).

Ten of fourteen drill holes returned “significant” drill intersections of greater than 0.7 g/t Au. An additional two drill holes, NR-20-006 and 007, returned intersections with gold grades above the 0.3 g/t Au cut-off used in the January 2020 Mineral Resource Estimate for the Project. No economic mineralization was encountered in drill holes NR-20-001 and 005.