TORONTO,
April 17, 2014 /CNW/ - Marathon
Gold Corporation ("Marathon" or the "Company") (TSX: MOZ) today
announced the results of the final drill holes from the highly
successful winter 2014 drilling campaign at the Sprite Zone,
Valentine Lake Property (Figure 1). A total of 26 drill holes
totaling 3,487m of NQ drill core, representing most of the winter
drilling, were completed at the Sprite Zone. This new Sprite drill
area has yielded multiple wide, high-grade, near surface gold
intervals and marks the beginning of concentrated exploration in
this highly perspective quartz, tourmaline, pyrite (QTP)-gold rich
zone located just 1.5 kilometers along strike NE of the Leprechaun
Gold Deposit and proximal to the Valentine Lake thrust fault
(Figure 1). The Sprite gold area has a current strike length in
excess of 500 meters and is open in all directions. Future
trenching and drilling campaigns will focus along strike and
down-dip on this promising new area of gold mineralization at the
Valentine Lake property.
Highlights include:
- Multiple, wide near-surface gold intercepts in recently
announced drilling including: 2.80 g/t Au over 18.4 meters true
thickness (TT) in VL-14-543, 2.53 g/t Au over 16.5 meters (TT) in
VL-14-549, 2.20 g/t Au over 16.8 meters (TT) in VL-14-542, and 1.69
g/t Au over 24.0 meters (TT) in VL-14-552.
- High-grade gold intercepts in recently announced drilling
including: 5.35 g/t Au over 6.0 meters (TT) in VL-14-553, 4.38 g/t
Au over 5.4 meters (TT) in VL-14-561, and 3.83 g/t Au over 5.6
meters (TT) in VL-14-554.
- New near-surface wide QTP veining intervals with gold
intercepts of 1.43 g/t Au over 6.0 meters (TT) including 8.95 g/t
Au over 0.6 meters (TT) in VL-14-563, 1.60 g/t Au over 2.4 meters
(TT) in VL-14-558, 0.66 g/t Au over 7.2 meters (TT) in VL-14-562,
and 0.54 g/t Au over 11.5 meters (TT) in VL-14-564. These results
are expanding the area of gold mineralizaton.
- The new Sprite gold area has a proven strike length in excess
of 500 meters and is currently open in all directions within an
expansive alteration zone (Figure 1).
- The coming summer drilling program is planned to focus on
step-out and down-dip targeting in the Sprite area with the aim of
expanding the boundaries of the new QTP-gold mineralization and
continuing development of this new potential open pit resource at
the Valentine Lake property. Additional drilling is planned for the
Victory Gold deposit, other gold-bearing areas within the Sprite
Zone where wide spaced historical and minor Marathon drilling has intercepted significant
gold intervals, as well as other open-pit targets on the
property.
- A systematic exploration program of prospecting and trenching
will be conducted during the coming summer focused along the entire
Sprite Zone as well as north-east into the Marathon area where good gold values were
found in extensive QTP-rich surface veining last year. The goal of
this work is to define more future drilling targets for ongoing
development of near-surface open pit resources in the Valentine
Lake property.
"The success of our winter drilling at the newly
discovered gold mineralization area in the Sprite Zone is a
testimony to the effectiveness of our systematic approach to
exploration and resource development which rapidly identified drill
targets. Magnetic lows provide another important exploration tool
as they help define splay faults that would have provided conduits
for concentration of the mineralizing fluids during formation of
the QTP-gold veining and alteration. The close proximity to the
Leprechaun deposit makes Sprite a very important area for the
development of additional resources at the Valentine Lake
Property. We look forward to continued success with our
summer 2014 drilling campaign planned for the Sprite Zone targeting
additional current prospective drill targets. We also look forward
to positive results from our ongoing summer program of detailed
prospecting and trenching focused on other exploration targets
along the Valentine Lake thrust and associated splay faults," said
Phillip Walford, President and CEO
of Marathon.
TABLE 1: Significant Assay Intervals from
drill holes VL-14-558 to VL-14-558 and VL-14-562 to VL-14-565,
Sprite Zone
DDH* |
Section |
From |
To |
Core
Length (m) |
TT**
(m) |
Gold
(g/t)
Uncut |
VL-14-558 |
12250 |
83.5 |
86.5 |
3 |
2.4 |
1.60 |
VL-14-559 |
12220 |
9 |
12 |
3 |
2.4 |
0.72 |
VL-14-562 |
11970 |
100 |
112 |
12.0 |
7.2 |
0.66 |
VL-14-563 |
11950 |
5 |
15 |
10.0 |
6.0 |
1.43 |
including |
|
14 |
15 |
1 |
0.6 |
8.95 |
VL-14-564 |
11940 |
4.8 |
24 |
19.2 |
11.5 |
0.54 |
VL-14-565 |
12000 |
19 |
22 |
3 |
1.8 |
0.53 |
* No significant assay intervals in
VL-14-566.
VL-14-560 and VL-14-561 previously released.
** (TT) - denotes true
thickness
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 is a
Toronto based gold resource
development company focused on the Valentine Lake property in
central Newfoundland. Marathon's mission is to rapidly move the
Valentine Lake project towards advanced exploration and
pre-development stages. For more information
visit: www.marathon-gold.com.
About the Valentine Lake Project
The Valentine Lake property, owned 100% by
Marathon Gold Corporation, hosts two well defined gold deposits
with NI 43-101 compliant resources: the Leprechaun Gold Deposit and
the Victory Gold Deposit. The Leprechaun Gold Deposit is located
near the south-western end of the Valentine Lake property, and
the Victory Gold Deposit is located 13 kilometers along strike to
the north-east. These gold deposits form part of a 23 km
long, highly prospective gold-bearing mineralized corridor focused
along the Valentine Lake Thrust Fault.
The Leprechaun Gold Deposit has a NI 43-101
compliant Open Pit and Underground Resource (refer to August 1, 2013 news release). The Open Pit
Resource is Measured 3.5 million tonnes containing 247,000 oz Au,
and Indicated 6.2 million tonnes containing 412,000 oz Au, and
Inferred 1.2 million tonnes at 1.82 g/t Au containing 71,000 oz Au.
The Underground Resource is Measured 108,000 tonnes containing
17,000 oz Au, and Indicated 764,000 tonnes containing 100,000 oz
Au, and Inferred 349,000 tonnes containing 69,000 oz Au. As a
result of favorable drilling results in 2013 and 2014, the Sprite
Area, which is adjacent to the Leprechaun Gold Deposit, will be a
focus of continued exploration this year. The Sprite Area adjoins
the Leprechaun Gold Deposit and recent promising drilling is
located 1.5 km to the north east of the Leprechaun Gold
Deposit.
The Victory Gold Deposit (formerly Valentine East Hill) has an Open Pit Resource
(refer to August 1, 2013 news
release). The Open Pit Resource is Indicated 761,000 tonnes
containing 41,000 oz Au, and Inferred 199,000 tonnes containing
9,000 oz Au. Both deposits are open to expansion.
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 of Sprite Zone
showing the collar position of drill holes VL-14-558 to VL-14-559
and VL-14-562 to VL-14-565, 2013 channel samples, and mineralizing
alteration corridor. (CNW Group/Marathon Gold Corporation)". Image
available at:
http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20140417_C4211_PHOTO_EN_39410.jpg