Feb 18 2016
Marathon Gold Corporation ("Marathon" or the "Company") today announced the intersection of significant quartz-tourmaline-pyrite veining with visible gold in new drill holes located 230 meters SW along strike from previous drilling at the Marathon Gold Deposit.
The overall strike length of the gold mineralized corridor now extends southward for 1.2 km from the north end of the current Marathon deposit resource pit shell and remains open on-strike to the southwest (Figure 1). Drill core assays are pending.
Highlights:
- The consulting firm MPH completed an interpretation of the new ground magnetic survey as well as the 2007 airborne data. The study looked at the geophysical signatures of the known deposits in the Valentine Lake intrusion and targeted several other areas for further investigation.
- New step-out drilling, targeting areas overlain by frozen bog terrain, has successfully intersected significant quartz-tourmaline-pyrite veining with visible gold up to 230 meters SW along strike from previous drilling at the Marathon Gold Deposit. Drill core assays are pending. Drilling to date indicates that this overburden is usually less than ten meters deep.
- The gold mineralized corridor of the Marathon Deposit area now extends over a 1.2 km meter strike length; extending southward from the northeast end of the current Marathon deposit resource pit shell (Figure 1). Additional step-out drilling to the southwest and proximal to the Valentine Lake Thrust Fault is planned; targeting highly prospective areas underlain by abundant geophysical interpreted cross structures.
- The 2016 winter drilling campaign has focused on frozen bog covered terrain and the positive results to date justify future plans to extend new drill access roads southward along the Valentine Lake Thrust Fault. The drilling program may be extended to take advantage of the frozen ground if drill results warrant it.
"The intersection of good visual mineralization in 200 meter step-out drill holes is very exciting as we continue our exploration of target areas identified under now frozen bog covered ground to the southwest of the current Marathon Deposit resource pit shell. The gold mineralized corridor of the Marathon Deposit area now extends southward along strike for 1.2 km with numerous additional and highly perspective geophysical cross structure targets yet to be investigated," said Phillip Walford, President and CEO of Marathon. "Our focus continues to be developing a critical mass of open pit resources at the Valentine Gold Camp and our winter drilling program continues to advance this goal."
The 2016 metallurgical program has started with drill core samples received by Thibault and Associates Inc., the metallurgical laboratory that completed the 2014 metallurgical program. The Marathon Deposit will be tested for gravity, floatation and cyanidation of the concentrates. Preliminary heap leach testing is also underway to determine if this cost effective processing method could be viable for both the Leprechaun and Marathon deposit materials. The company has made an application to the Research and Development Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador (RDC) for a research grant in support this metallurgical study. The 2014 program received a grant for 75% of costs.
All of the samples were fire assayed at Eastern Analytical Laboratory Ltd., in Springdale, Newfoundland.
Marathon Gold Corporation acknowledges the financial support of the JEA Program, Department of Natural Resources, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.
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.