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Marathon Gold Corporation <\/strong>is pleased to announce the appointment of Ausenco Engineering Canada Inc. (“Ausenco”) as the lead consultant for the Feasibility Study (“FS”) at the Valentine Gold Project in central Newfoundland.<\/p>\n As lead consultant for the FS, Ausenco will be responsible for process and facilities design, access and power infrastructure design, capital and operating cost estimation and execution planning. As project manager of the FS, Ausenco will also be coordinating contractor engagement, with a strong focus on local procurement, service providers, and employment. Working in coordination with Ausenco, Marathon has also engaged Moose Mountain Technical Services for open pit mine design, site infrastructure design (waste rock piles and haul roads), and mine scheduling. Golder Associates Ltd. have been retained for the design of the Tailings Management Facility. Since the re-opening of the Valentine Gold Project camp on June 9th<\/sup>, 2020, a number of Feasibility-level site investigations have already been initiated, including with Terrane Geoscience Inc. for pit geotechnical drilling and slope design, and GEMTEC Consulting Engineers and Scientists Ltd. for hydrogeological and mine site geotechnical drilling. Stantec Consulting Ltd. are the lead consultant for the ongoing Valentine Gold Project Environmental Assessment.<\/p>\n Matt Manson, President and CEO, commented: “The Valentine Gold Project Feasibility Study will be based on the same high value, low capex project scope that we outlined in our April 2020 Pre-Feasibility Study. This comprises two open pits at Leprechaun and Marathon feeding a central process plant with conventional milling over a 12 year mine life. Throughput will remain at 2.5 Mtpa, scaling to 4 Mtpa in year 4. Based on the Pre-Feasibility Study, this design yields 175,000 ounces of gold per annum for years 1 to 9 for an initial capital outlay of C$272 million, and results in an after-tax IRR of 36% and NPV5%<\/sub> of C$472 million at a US$1350\/oz gold price. For our Feasibility Study, we are returning to the same Ausenco-Moose Mountain-Golder core engineering team to further develop the basis of estimate of this successful design, under the supervision of our new owner’s team of Tim Williams and Paolo Toscano. Current exploration activities, being conducted with a view to the discovery of future mineral resources that could be added to this base mine plan, will continue uninterrupted through the FS work.”<\/p>\n The FS is expected to take approximately 6 months to complete, with results expected in the first quarter of 2021. This work will be financed from existing cash resources, with Marathon’s treasury standing at C$54 million as of June 30, 2020.<\/p>\n Qualified Person<\/strong><\/p>\n Scientific and technical information contained in this news release was reviewed and approved by James Powell, P.Eng (NL), VP of Regulatory and Government Affairs. Mr. Powell is a Qualified Person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”) and has approved the technical content of this news release.<\/p>\n About Marathon<\/strong><\/p>\n Marathon is a Toronto based gold company advancing its 100%-owned Valentine Gold Project located in the central region of Newfoundland and Labrador, one of the top mining jurisdictions in the world. The Project comprises a series of four mineralized deposits along a 20-kilometre system. An April 2020 Pre-Feasibility Study outlined an open pit mining and conventional milling operation over a twelve-year mine life with a 36% after-tax rate of return. The Project has estimated Proven Mineral Reserves of 1.3 Moz (26.3 Mt at 1.52 g\/t) and Probable Mineral Reserves of 0.6 Moz (14.8 Mt at 1.23 g\/t). Total Measured Mineral Resources (inclusive of the Mineral Reserves) comprise 1.9 Moz (31.7 Mt at 1.86 g\/t) with Indicated Mineral Resources (inclusive of the Mineral Reserves) of 1.19 Moz (23.2 Mt at 1.60 g\/t). Additional Inferred Mineral Resources are 0.96 Moz (16.77 Mt at 1.78 g\/t Au). Please see the Technical Report dated April 21, 2020 for further details and assumptions relating to the Valentine Gold Project.<\/p>\n For more information, please contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n