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Marathon Gold intersects 2.57 g/t Au over 20.25m (TW) including 16.55 g/t Au over 2.25m (TW) near surface at the Leprechaun Gol

^{Published on 2011-04-26 04:45:48 - Market Wire}
 

TORONTO, April 26 /CNW/ - Marathon Gold Corporation (MOZ:TSX) ("Marathon" or "the Company") announced today the near surface intersection of a wide interval of gold mineralization at the Leprechaun Gold Deposit; the first defined gold resource within the highly prospective Valentine Lake Property in central Newfoundland. Drill hole VL-11-282 intersected 2.57 g/t Au over 20.25m, including 16.55 g/t Au over 2.25m, within 25m of the surface  ([ Figure - LP ]). Other significant near surface intersections included 1.33 g/t Au over 9.6m with 5.53 g/t Au over 1.6m in VL-11-263 and 1.39 g/ Au over 6.7m with 4.79 g/t Au over 0.95m in VL-11-283. The Valentine Lake Project is a 50/50 venture between Marathon and Mountain Lake.

"We are delighted with the discovery of this new near surface mineralization. The wide dilation lenses that we have encountered this year are typical of the Leprechaun Gold Deposit and contain most of its gold resource", said Phillip Walford, President and CEO of Marathon Gold Corporation.

Highlights:

• The wide gold intersection of 2.57 g/t Au over 20.25m with 16.55 g/t Au over 2.25 in VL-11-282 confirms the potential for significant additional near surface mineralization as we continue with future in-fill and step out drilling at the Leprechaun Gold deposit
• These new drill results show the continuation of near surface gold mineralization, including wide intervals with high-grade intercepts, over more than a  200m strike length along the eastern margin of the Leprechaun Gold Deposit
• This new mineralization will effectively extend the limit of the pit boundary eastward into the footwall sediments
• Drilling has ceased for the spring break-up but will resume in the spring when the remaining 18,000 m of the program will begin.

TABLE 1: New Assay Intervals for the Leprechaun Gold Deposit*, **

Estimated true widths, MZ = main zone

* VL-11-266, VL-11-268, VL-11-269, VL-11-273, VL-11-274, VL-11-281 and VL-11-284 did not return any significant assay intervals.

**VL-11-260, VL-11-262, VL-11-264, VL-11-267, VL-11-270, VL-11-272, VL-11-277 and VL-11-279 were drilled in the Sprite Zone and will be the subject of a forthcoming Press Release.

All of the samples were analyzed at Eastern Analytical Laboratory Ltd., in Springdale, Newfoundland. Samples were assayed using lead collection fire assay with AA (atomic absorption) finish. Results from fire assay are used for drill hole planning only. Assay results for the future updates of the December, 2010 resource will be determined by an ongoing metallic screening process. Due to the coarse nature of the gold at the Leprechaun Deposit, the metallic screening method is used on economically important intersections using standard fire assay techniques. The reported values in this release are fire assay results.

About the Valentine Lake Joint Venture: The Valentine Lake Project is a 50/50 joint venture between Marathon Gold and Mountain Lake. The Leprechaun Gold Deposit is situated at the south-western end of the Valentine Lake Property and the Valentine East Gold Zone is located 13 km along strike running in a north-easterly direction.  These gold occurrences form part of a 23 km long, highly prospective gold-bearing mineralized corridor. Marathon is the operator of the Project, and the companies have agreed to jointly fund a $6 million budget in 2011 that will include a planned 25,000 metres of drilling.

Leprechaun Deposit: The Leprechaun Deposit has a new (News release, [ December 16, 2010 ]) NI 43-101 compliant Measured and Indicated Resource of 3,284,000 tonnes grading 2.62 g/t gold for a total estimated 277,000 ounces of gold. The inferred mineral resource is 4,409,000 tonnes grading 2.01 g/t gold for an estimated 285,000 ounces of gold. The new resource was estimated using a 0.5 g/t gold minimum cut-off over a 3 meter minimum width. The Leprechaun Gold Deposit is open at depth and along strike with 74% of the current M & I ounces occurring within 150m of surface.

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 Corporation ("Marathon") is one of Canada's newest gold resource development companies, with projects located in the mining friendly province of Newfoundland and Labrador and now a project in the prolific Coeur d'Alene Mining District of Idaho.  Marathon has a tiered project pipeline consisting of early stage exploration to advanced resource development projects that may be built into mineable reserves.  Marathon is continually evaluating new gold resource development projects of merit that are located within the Americas.  Marathon's focused and low-cost approach to resource development and exploration has an established record of delivering rapid growth.  Marathon is the operator of the Valentine Lake Project under the joint venture with MOA.  For more information visit: [ www.marathon-gold.com ]

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Except for statements of historical fact relating to Marathon Gold, 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'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 or results otherwise.

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