PHOENIX, Jan. 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Uptick Newswire Stock Day Podcast welcomed Marathon Gold Corporation (“Marathon” or the “Company”) (TSX: MOZ). Marathon is a Toronto based gold exploration company rapidly advancing its 100% owned Valentine Lake Gold Camp located in Newfoundland and Labrador, one of the top mining jurisdictions in the world. Phillip Walford, President and CEO talked with Stock Day’s Everett Jolly.
Jolly started the interview by asking Walford to bring listeners up to speed on James Powell who has been brought on as Director of Environmental and Stakeholder Engagement.
“He is a mining engineer, but he also has an extensive background in mine permitting,” explained Walford. “His function is to lay out our road map to permit the deposit for production. He is an important addition to our technical team.”
He went on to say the permitting process is important to the company at this stage of development as we move to a Preliminary Feasibility Study. He says they’ve added about 800,000 ounces of gold to their resources last year and they have a lot of “upside” on their property.
“We’ve had a lot of company geologists come and look at the property and they’ve all been impressed, it’s going to be an interesting year,” said Walford.
Jolly then turned the conversation to last year. He asked if Walford was very happy with the results of a new resource and a Preliminary Economic Assessment Study. He asked where Marathon goes from here. Phillip said the results showed they have a project with 2.7 M oz of Gold in Measured and Indicated at a grade of 1.85 grams per tonne Au and 1.5 M oz gold in Inferred at a grade of 1.77 grams per tonne. Most of this resource is pit shell constrained.
“It’s at a reasonably good grade for open pit, close to two grams. When we did our economic analysis, not all those resource ounces made it into the different pits, but most of them did. We came out with a production profile 225,000 ounces a year, for 12 years,” he said with 2.7 M ounces of recoverable gold. The economic parameters from the study demonstrates a very robust project with an internal rate of return of 30% after tax and a mine payback after tax of 2.5 years.
He went on to explain that usually a deposit that’s going to produce 100,000 a year is good, but when you get to 200-300 range you are looking at a major mine.
“From the work that we have done, we know that the potential to increase that production rate is good and that’s part of the focus for this year to add Measured and Indicated resources to the open pit resources. Also, we are entering into what’s called a Preliminary Feasibility Study. That’s the next step in progressing the project to a mine.”
Jolly then mentioned that most junior exploration companies, like Marathon, sell out to a major company. He wanted to know if that was on the table and wanted to know the game plan for 2019.
“It’s really to maximize shareholder value,” said Walford. “If we have a good mining company that approaches us and wants to pay a good premium for our stock, then we are of a fiduciary duty to look at it. In the mean time we will continue to advance the project to mining.”
Walford said in his opinion, the fair price is over $2, because the economic study indicated an after tax, discounted net present value of value of $493 million, after taxes from the Preliminary Economic Analysis study. He says their largest shareholders feel the same. He says they are focused on advancing the project, he can’t predict whether they will be acquired or not, but their progress is being followed by some companies.
“We are focused on adding value by de-risking the project and in doing so, move towards production ourselves,” he explained.
To hear the entire interview with Philip Walford, listen to the Stick Day Podcast here: https://upticknewswire.com/featured-interview-ceo-phillip-walford-of-marathon-gold-corp-otcqx-mgdpf-2/
Investors Hangout is a proud sponsor of “Stock Day,” and Uptick Newswire encourages listeners to visit the company’s message board at https://investorshangout.com/
About Marathon Gold Corporation
Marathon is a Toronto based gold exploration company rapidly advancing its 100% owned Valentine Lake Gold Camp located in Newfoundland and Labrador, one of the top mining jurisdictions in the world. The Valentine Lake Gold Camp currently hosts four near-surface, mainly pit-shell constrained, deposits with measured and indicated resources totaling 2,691,400 oz. of gold at 1.85 g/t and inferred resources totaling 1,531,600 oz. of gold at 1.77 g/t. The majority of the resources occur in the Marathon and Leprechaun deposits, which also have resources below the current open pit shell. Both deposits are open to depth and on strike. Gold mineralization has been traced down over 350 meters vertically at Leprechaun and almost a kilometer at Marathon. The four deposits identified to date occur over a 20-kilometer system of gold bearing veins, with much of the 24,000-hectare property having had only minimal exploration activity to date.
The Valentine Lake Gold Camp is accessible by year-round road and is located in close proximity to the provincial electrical grid. Marathon maintains a 50-person all-season camp at the property. Recent metallurgical tests have demonstrated 93% to 98% recoveries via conventional milling and 50% to 70% recoveries via low cost heap leaching at both the Leprechaun and Marathon Deposits.
To find out more information on the Valentine Lake Gold Camp please visit www.marathongold.com.
For more information, please contact:
Phillip Walford
President and Chief Executive Officer
Christopher Haldane
Investor Relations Manager
Tel: 1-416-987-0711
E-mail: chaldane@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.
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