MOZ Marathon Gold Corporation

TORONTO, June 29, 2011 /CNW/ -- TORONTO, June 29, 2011 /CNW/ - Marathon Gold Corporation ("Marathon" or "the Company") (MOZ-TSX) is pleased to announce today the intersection of a wide interval of gold mineralization in the northeast section of the Leprechaun Gold Deposit. Drill hole VL-11-288 intersected 2.09 g/t Au over 65.6m including 16.49g/t Au over 3.2m and 76.0 g/t over 0.8m  (Figure - SZ). Additional new gold mineralization was intersected in VL-11-287 with 9.38 g/t Au over 7.2m including 16.68 g/t Au over 4m and in VL-11-289 with 2.59 g/t Au over 8.8m. All grades in this release are uncut and all thicknesses quoted are estimated true thicknesses. The Valentine Lake Project is a 50/50 joint-venture between Marathon and Mountain Lake. Both Companies are equal contributors to the 2011 25,000m drilling program now underway. "The intersection of this wide zone of high grade mineralization at the Leprechaun Gold Deposit is an excellent start to our summer exploration program despite a three-week delay due to poor spring weather. The new mineralization extends 40 meters down-dip and over 50 meters along strike from previous drilling results and will result in an important expansion of the deposit," said Phillip Walford, President and CEO of Marathon Gold Corporation. Highlights: -- The wide gold intersection of 2.09 g/t Au over 65.6m with 16.49 g/t Au over 3.2m and 76.0 g/t Au over 0.8m in VL-11-288 confirms the potential for intersecting additional wide zones of high grade gold mineralization at depth within the Leprechaun Gold Deposit. -- The new mineralization in VL-11-287 with 9.38 g/t Au over 7.2m including 16.68 g/t Au over 4m and in VL-11-289 with 2.59 g/t Au over 8.8m including 6.00 g/t Au over 2.4m confirms the along strike continuity of high-grade gold mineralization. -- The new drilling results extend the zone of gold mineralization more than 40m down dip from previous drilling and will expand the resource. -- VL-11-285 and VL-11-286 are drilled through a zone of dominantly mafic dykes that cut eastward at about the 1550 E section across the Leprechaun Gold Deposit. Gold mineralization resumes on the other side of the dyke. -- The second rig drilling at the SW end of the current resource limits of the Leprechaun Gold deposit has intersected typical quartz-tourmaline-pyrite-gold mineralization with assays pending over the next two weeks. -- A total 73 drill holes totalling 10,721m (42%) of our planned 25,000m 2011 drilling campaign have been completed to date for the Valentine Lake Property. The majority of those holes have been focussed on the expansion of the Leprechaun resource and the remaining drilling will be on definition and expansion of the Leprechaun deposit. TABLE 1: Significant Assay Intervals for the Leprechaun Gold Deposit _____________________________________________________________________ | DDH |Section|Zone*|From (m)|To (m)|Core Width |TT (m)|Gold (g/t)| | | | | | | (m) | | | |_________|_______|_____|________|______|___________|______|__________| |VL-11-286|10537.5| HW | 103 | 105 | 2 | 2 | 1.50 | |_________|_______|_____|________|______|___________|______|__________| |VL-11-287|10512.5| HW | 29 | 32 | 3 | 3 | 0.76 | |_________|_______|_____|________|______|___________|______|__________| |VL-11-287|10512.5| MZ | 162 | 168 | 6 | 4.8 | 2.86 | |_________|_______|_____|________|______|___________|______|__________| |including|10512.5| MZ | 162 | 163 | 1 | 0.8 | 13.52 | |_________|_______|_____|________|______|___________|______|__________| |VL-11-287|10512.5| MZ | 195 | 198 | 3 | 2.4 | 1.08 | |_________|_______|_____|________|______|___________|______|__________| |VL-11-287|10512.5| MZ | 241 | 250 | 9 | 7.2 | 9.38 | |_________|_______|_____|________|______|___________|______|__________| |including|10512.5| MZ | 243 | 248 | 5 | 4 | 16.68 | |_________|_______|_____|________|______|___________|______|__________| |VL-11-287|10512.5| FW | 273 | 278 | 5 | 3.5 | 2.48 | |_________|_______|_____|________|______|___________|______|__________| |VL-11-288| 10500 | HW | 40 | 48 | 8 | 8 | 0.56 | |_________|_______|_____|________|______|___________|______|__________| |VL-11-288| 10500 | MZ | 155 | 237 | 82 | 65.6 | 2.09 | |_________|_______|_____|________|______|___________|______|__________| |including| 10500 | MZ | 182 | 186 | 4 | 3.2 | 16.50 | |_________|_______|_____|________|______|___________|______|__________| |including| 10500 | MZ | 229 | 237 | 8 | 6.4 | 9.66 | |_________|_______|_____|________|______|___________|______|__________| |including| 10500 | MZ | 229 | 230 | 1 | 0.8 | 76.00 | |_________|_______|_____|________|______|___________|______|__________| |VL-11-288| 10500 | MZ | 267 | 272 | 5 | 4 | 3.78 | |_________|_______|_____|________|______|___________|______|__________| |VL-11-288| 10500 | FW | 300 | 302 | 2 | 1.6 | 6.42 | |_________|_______|_____|________|______|___________|______|__________| |VL-11-289|10487.5| HW | 50 | 54 | 4 | 4 | 0.55 | |_________|_______|_____|________|______|___________|______|__________| |VL-11-289|10487.5| MZ | 179 | 182 | 3 | 2.4 | 2.37 | |_________|_______|_____|________|______|___________|______|__________| |VL-11-289|10487.5| MZ | 207 | 218 | 11 | 8.8 | 2.59 | |_________|_______|_____|________|______|___________|______|__________| |including|10487.5| MZ | 207 | 210 | 3 | 2.4 | 6.00 | |_________|_______|_____|________|______|___________|______|__________| |VL-11-289|10487.5| MZ | 230 | 234 | 4 | 3.2 | 1.52 | |_________|_______|_____|________|______|___________|______|__________| *Denotes: HW - hanging wall zone, MZ - main zone, FW - footwall zone -- A site visit by Marathon Gold Corporation's Board of Directors occurred on June 22, 2010 (photos on website) with all members flying into the Valentine Lake Property to examine the mineralized core, tour the new camp facility, and hold a board meeting . 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. A revised resource for the Leprechaun deposit was planned for the second quarter of 2011. The joint-venture partners have decided to defer this resource estimation until the current drilling program has been completed and an open pit resource can be estimated. The open pit resource will form the basis of the Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") scheduled for release in the first half of 2012. 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 meters 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. Update on the Golden Chest Project Drilling at Marathon's Golden Chest Mine in northern Idaho, which had been delayed by three weeks due to poor spring weather conditions, is now on schedule with two rigs currently drilling off the open pit deposit in the southern part of the Idaho Property. The project is a JV with New Jersey Mining as operator. 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 (Valentine) and now a project in the prolific Coeur d'Alene Mining District of Idaho (Golden Chest). Marathon has a  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 Mountain Lake. 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. NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE, NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED UNDER THE POLICIES OF THE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS NEWS RELEASE.           To view this news release in HTML formatting, please use the following URL: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2011/29/c9993.html p Marathon Gold Corporation /p p Phillip Walford, Pres., CEObr/ Tel: 1-416-987-0711br/ a href="mailto:pwalford@marathon-gold.com"pwalford@marathon-gold.com/abr/ br/ orbr/ br/ Joanna Longobr/ Tel: 1-416-238-1414 ext.233br/ a href="mailto:jlongo@terrepartners.com"jlongo@terrepartners.com/a /p

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