Marathon Gold Announces Discovery of a New High-Grade Gold Vein and the Start of a 20,000 m Drilling Program at the Golden Chest Mine

TORONTO, Feb. 2, 2012 /CNW/ - Marathon Gold Corporation ("Marathon" or the "Company") (MOZ: TSX) today announced discovery of a new underground gold-bearing quartz vein that assayed 29.4 g/t gold across a true thickness of 1.4 meters. The quartz vein was intersected during an exploration crosscut in the Katie-Dora area of the northern Golden Chest Mine. The Katie-Dora, an area with little previous exploration or drilling, has returned historical grades of 17 g/t gold. The Golden Chest Mine is owned 50% by New Jersey Mining Corporation and 50% by Marathon Gold Corporation (MOZ: TSX) and NJMC is the operator.

"The new discovery of the high-grade gold-bearing quartz vein in the north end of the old mine is very exciting. It is a high priority future exploration target with the potential to discover more gold-bearing quartz veins. As very little exploration work has been done here, we are eager to continue aggressively drilling this project," commented Phillip Walford, President and CEO of Marathon Gold.

The new gold-bearing quartz vein, discovered during the recent exploration crosscut, is located at a distance of approximately 12 meters from the existing mine ramp. The purpose of the crosscut was to follow-up on a small diameter core hole that returned incomplete sample recovery through a quartz zone, but indicated high-grade gold may be present. Abundant sulfides including galena, pyrite and chalcopyrite were present in this intensely fractured quartz vein as revealed by the crosscut.

Current plans are to extend the crosscut to a potential second vein as indicated by previous drilling, and then come back and drift on the new vein to determine its strike length.  Chip samples will also be collected along the entire length of the multiple quartz stringer and pyrite-bearing crosscut, in order to determine if the entire zone may be amenable to bulk mining.

On January 25^th, 2012 the aggressive 20,000 m core drilling program commenced with two surface drill rigs. The primary focus of this year's drilling is to extend the boundary of the potential open pit Resource to the north into the Katie-Dora area. Additional drilling targets include the extension of the potential open pit Resource south of Idaho Hill, the expansion of the historical Idaho vein underground Resource, the down-dip extension of the high-grade Katie-Dora veins below the No. 3 level, and exploration of the southward extension of the Idaho fault onto the Joe Dandy claim.

The first NI 43-101 compliant Resource Estimate for the Golden Chest Mine is on schedule for completion by Micon International Limited in Q1 2012.

The Golden Chest Mine

The Golden Chest Mine is located two miles east of Murray, Idaho within the gold belt of the Coeur d'Alene Mining District.  The mine has over 3,900 meters of underground workings and has the permits necessary to drill and operate on the deposit. The property includes 24 patented mining claims and 70 unpatented mining claims covering 515 hectares. Patented claims that cover the mine workings have mineral and surface rights enabling the joint venture to work easily on the mine property.

All of the samples were analyzed by American Analytical of Osburn, Idaho, an ISO certified laboratory.  Samples were analyzed using lead collection fire assay with a gravimetric finish. A series of known assay standards are submitted with each drill hole as part of a quality assurance- quality compliance program.

Phillip Walford, P. Geo., President and CEO, 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 is a North American gold resource development company, with projects located in the mining friendly province of Newfoundland and Labrador, the prolific Coeur d'Alene Mining District of Idaho and the historic gold rich Greenhorn District of Oregon, USA.  Marathon has a project pipeline consisting of early stage exploration to advanced resource development projects. 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 exploration and resource development has an established record of delivering rapid growth.  For more information 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.

Marathon Gold Corporation

Jennie Guay
Investor Relations Manager
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E-mail: [email protected]