TORONTO , Dec. 10, 2014 /CNW/ - Marathon Gold Corporation ("Marathon" or the "Company") (MOZ.TO) today announced continued positive drilling results from drill holes MA-14-010 to MA-14-014 in the recently discovered gold-rich Marathon Zone, located 7 kilometers northeast along strike from the Leprechaun Gold Deposit and 5 kilometers southwest along strike from the Victory Gold Deposit, Valentine Lake Gold Camp (Figure 1). The gold-bearing quartz-tourmaline-pyrite (QTP) veining at the Marathon Zone consists of multiple vertical stacked, dominantly shallow SW dipping tensional veining that is identical in appearance to the gold-bearing QTP veining found throughout the rest of the Valentine Lake Gold Camp.

Drill holes MA-14-010 to MA-14-014 intersected wide intervals of gold mineralization hosting narrower high-grade ore shoots and forming part of an expanding Marathon Zone that has a current strike length of over 200 meters. The drilling to date has outlined a near vertical mineralized corridor ranging from 50 to 100 meters in true width and has been drilled currently to a vertical depth of up to 200 meters. A total of 4,131 meters of NQ core has been drilled to date in the Marathon Zone, of which 1,679 meters from drill holes MA-14-015 to MA-14-025 has assays yet to be completed. All assays are expected to be available in early January. The gold mineralization at the Marathon Zone is part of a major QTP-gold vein system that is open along strike and at depth (Figure 1).

Highlights (all drill intercepts reported at true thickness):

• New wide intervals of gold mineralization include 4.13 g/t Au over 9.9 meters in MA-14-010, 1.75 g/t Au over 19.8 meters in MA-14-012, 3.43 g/t Au over 5.4 meters in MA-14-011 and 1.53 g/t Au over 10.8 meters in MA-14-014
  

• New narrow, high-grade gold intervals include 9.66 g/t Au over 0.6 meters, 11.21 g/t Au over 1.7 meters, 7.90 g/t Au over 0.6 meters, 15.49 g/t Au over 0.6 meters and 13.64 g/t Au over 0.6 meters in MA-14-010, 9.32 g/t Au over 1.2 meters in MA-14-011, 6.73 g/t Au over 0.6 meters, 11.22 g/t Au over 0.6 meters in MA-14-012, and 10.86 g/t Au over 0.6 meters in MA-14-013.
  

• The initial 14 drill holes in the Marathon Zone have intersected an area of multiple vertical stacked, dominantly shallow SW dipping tensional gold-bearing QTP veining that defines a near vertical mineralized corridor that is currently up to 100 meters wide and 200 meters deep, more than 200 meters in strike length and is open along strike to both the southwest and northeast. Assays are pending for additional drill holes, MA-14-015 to MA-14-025.
  

• Drilling currently ongoing at the Marathon Zone is designed to further increase the strike length of this new gold-rich zone and quickly develop significant new open-pit resource(s) in this area proximal to the Valentine Lake Thrust Fault.
  

• Drilling has stopped for the year as we await pending assays from remaining drill holes to be completed which will allow us to plan next year's drill program at the Marathon Zone in Q1 of 2015.

"The Marathon crew has done an excellent job throughout 2014 in discovering and drilling off two near surface new gold zones, Sprite and Marathon, at the Valentine Lake Gold Camp as well as discovering several other gold occurrences requiring further work. The high discovery rate of gold this year is attributed to the skills of the crew and the increase in geological knowledge of the property. The Marathon Zone appears to be part of a major gold-bearing alteration corridor open along strike and to depth. We are excited about resuming drilling in early 2015 on the Marathon Zone to increase open-pit gold resources at the Valentine Lake Gold Camp. We have just scratched the surface of this emerging gold camp in Eastern Canada ," said Phillip Walford , President and CEO of Marathon. "The recently released metallurgical work, largely funded by Research and Development Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador , is also a positive step forward in the development of the project".

TABLE 1: Significant assay intervals from the Marathon Zone drill holes MA-14-010 to MA-14-014

*Assays pending for MA-14-015 to MA-14-025

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

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.

About Marathon Gold Corporation

Marathon Gold is a Toronto based gold resource company with exploration focused on its 100% owned Valentine Lake Gold Camp located in central Newfoundland . The Valentine Lake Gold Camp currently hosts two near-surface, mainly pit-shell constrained, NI 43-101 compliant gold resources totaling 816,000 oz gold at 2.24 g/t (Measured & Indicated) and 149,000 oz gold at 2.64 g/t (Inferred), (August, 2013). These resources, open along strike and to depth, cover less than 5% of the total length of the highly perspective Valentine Lake Thrust Fault and associated splay faults which host the majority of the gold mineralization within the property. Newly discovered gold zones, including the Sprite Zone and Marathon Zone, have returned wide intervals of near-surface good gold grades and have yet to be incorporated into new gold resources for the Valentine Lake Gold Camp. For more information 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.

SOURCE Marathon Gold Corporation

Image with caption: "Figure 1: Location map showing the location of the new DDH's MA-14-010 to MA-14-014, previously released DDH's MA-14-001 to MA-14-009, and DDH's MA-14-015 to MA-14-025 with assays in progress. (CNW Group/Marathon Gold Corporation)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20141210_C6016_PHOTO_EN_9253.jpg