Deep Drilling at the Marathon Deposit Extends Mineralization with Visible Gold to Depths Greater than 900 meters (3,000 ft.) Valentine Lake Gold Camp, Newfoundland

Figure 1: Longitudinal Section 4300N through the Marathon Deposit mineralized corridor showing the boundary of the Feb, 2017 updated resource (red) and deep penetration of drill holes MA-17-174 (833 meters), MA-17-175 (1,001 meters) and MA-17-176 (in progress) into the QTP - VG vein arrays at depths more than two times deeper than the 2017 resource.Click here for high-resolution version

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TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - April 13, 2017) - Marathon Gold Corporation ("Marathon" or the "Company") (MOZ.TO) is very excited to announce the intersection of wide intervals of stacked quartz-tourmaline-pyrite (QTP) veining with visible gold (VG) in the deepest holes drilled to date within the Marathon Deposit, Valentine Lake Gold Camp. Holes MA-17-174 and MA-17-175, drilled sub-vertical down through the mineralized corridor of the Marathon Deposit, have both intersected abundant wide intervals of QTP veining with numerous VG occurrences at depths of up to 950.5 meters (photo 1, www.marathon-gold.com). These new drill holes, covering approximately 200-meter of strike length of the mineralized corridor of the Marathon Deposit, have penetrated to depths up to 1000 meters into the Marathon Deposit and represent the deepest visible gold drilled to date within the Valentine Lake Gold Camp (Figure 1). Assays are pending for both MA-17-174 (upper 400 m of the hole in this news release) and MA-17-175. These drill holes have more than doubled the depth potential of the Marathon Deposit (Figure 1).

Marathon's current drilling is now focused on outlining and expanding the known 40 to 100 meter wide, 500 meters long and 1 kilometer deep sub-vertical mineralized corridor of the Marathon Deposit. A program of sub vertical holes will explore the corridor to greater depths and further along strike to the northeast and southwest of the current resource boundary. We will continue to drill to the northeast and southwest to expand the open pit resource.

Drill holes MA-17-170 to MA-17-173 also intersected good intervals of QTP veining with best intercepts including 2.10 g/t Au over 47.0 meters including 11.58 g/t Au over 5.0 meters in MA-17-173 and 1.72 g/t Au over 33.0 meters including 3.48 g/t Au over 8.0 meters in MA-17-171 (Figure 1). Drill hole MA-17-173, located 50 meters NE of MA-17-175, drilled to a depth of 400 meters, penetrating along the hanging wall side of the mineralized corridor. This drill hole will be re-entered and deepened to assist in determining the width of the excellent QTP-VG veining discovered at depths within MA-17-175.

Marathon Deposit Model

The Marathon Deposit is a classic orogenic gold deposit. These types of gold deposits are found throughout the world and have produced the majority of the world's gold. The Timmins and Val d'Or orogenic-type gold deposits are noted for having gold deposited at more than 2 kilometers depth which gives them great underground mining potential. We see the same underground mining potential at the Marathon Deposit.

Highlights:

• Sub-vertical drill holes MA-17-174 and MA-17-175 have intersected wide intervals of shallow SW dipping en-echelon stacked QTP veining from near surface to depths of 790 meters in MA-17-174 and more than 965 meters in MA-17-175 (Figure 1). The deepest VG observed to date is at 898.04 meters and 950.48 meters in MA-17-175 (Photo 1, www.marathon-gold.com). The sub-vertical holes are designed to intersect the mineralized corridor at a steep angle, stay in the corridor for several hundred meters of depth and gradually pass out of the corridor as the hole deepens and flattens. Holes MA-174 and MA-17-175 are two sub-vertical holes that have been very successful in doing so.

• Partial assays have been received for MA-17-174 and best intercepts include 1.36 g/t Au over 76 meters with 3.37 g/t Au over 20 meters and 4.33 g/t Au over 11 meters with 8.57 g/t Au over 4 meters. These intercepts fall within the existing resource. The assays below the existing resource base from the reminder of MA-17-174 and MA-17-175 are expected to be completed by April 21, 2017.

• There is no visual difference in the style of QTP vein mineralization and alteration from surface to 1-kilometer depth. The longest drill holes have been suspended while in alteration pending assays and all drill casings are kept in place so drilling can be resumed at a later date.

• Best intercepts in steep to sub-vertical drill holes MA-17-170 to MA-17-173 included 2.10 g/t Au over 47.0 meters with 11.58 g/t Au over 5.0 meters in MA-17-173, and 1.72 g/t Au over 33.0 meters with 3.48 g/t Au over 8.0 meters in MA-17-171. These significant shallow intercepts fall within the open-pit portion of the Marathon Deposit.

"The current deeper drilling at the Marathon Deposit is returning very exciting results and clearly demonstrates that the 40 to 100 meter wide mineralized corridor has great depth potential," said Phillip Walford, President and CEO. "In my 40 years of experience with large-scale gold deposits, there have been very few lode gold deposits I have worked at that have the continuity of mineralization over the depths that I am seeing in MA-17-174 and MA-17-175 in the Marathon Deposit. It is going to be a busy year."

TABLE 1: Significant fire assay intervals from drill holes MA-17-170 to MA-17-174 (partial hole), Marathon Gold Deposit, Valentine Lake Gold Camp.

Acknowledgments

Marathon acknowledges the financial support of the JEA Program, Department of Natural Resources, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Research & Development Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador has granted approximately 40% of the costs of the current seismic program to Marathon Gold and we appreciate this support.

Quality Assurance-Quality Control ("QA/QC")

Sherry Dunsworth, M.Sc., P. Geo., SVP of Exploration, Marathon's Qualified Person, has reviewed the contents for accuracy and has approved this press release on behalf of Marathon. Thorough QA/QC protocols are followed including the insertion of blanks and standards at regular intervals in each sample batch. Drill core is cut in half with one half retained at site, the other half tagged and sent to Eastern Analytical Limited in Springdale, Newfoundland. All reported core samples are analyzed for Au by fire assay (30g) with AA finish. All samples above 0.10 g/t Au in economically interesting intervals are further assayed using metallic screen to mitigate the presence of coarse gold. Significant mineralized intervals are reported in Table 1 as core lengths and estimated true thickness (80% to 95% of core length).

About Marathon Gold

Marathon Gold Corporation (MOZ.TO) is a gold exploration company rapidly advancing its 100% owned Valentine Lake Gold Camp located in Newfoundland, one of the top mining jurisdictions in the world. The Valentine Lake property currently hosts four near-surface, mainly pit-shell constrained, gold resources totaling 1,388,200 oz. gold at 1.91 g/t (Measured & Indicated) and 766,500 oz. gold at 2.24 g/t (Inferred), (February 2017). These resources occur over a 20-km system of gold bearing veins. Much of the 24,000-hectare property has not been explored in detail to date. Drilling in 2017 will continue to focus on expanding the Marathon Deposit at surface and to depth. The property is accessible by year-round round, and is located within Newfoundland's electrical grid. The Company has constructed and maintains a 50-person all-season camp at the project. Recent metallurgical tests have demonstrated 93% to 98% recoveries via conventional milling and 50% to 70% recoveries via low cost heap leaching at both the Leprechaun and Marathon Deposits. To find out more information on the Valentine Lake Gold Camp please 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.

Contact Information

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