Marathon PGM Receives Initial Metallurgical Gold Recoveries for Leprechaun Gold Deposit, Overall Recoveries Exceeding 90%

TORONTO, Aug. 11 /CNW/ - Marathon PGM Corporation (MAR-TSX) ("Marathon") announced today that results from initial metallurgical test work from the Leprechaun Gold Deposit in Central Newfoundland, demonstrate recoveries exceeding 90%.

Highlights:

    -   results suggest gold recoveries in excess of 90% could be achieved
        through standard processing methods - gravity plus cyanide recoveries
    -   gravity recovery varied between 45% and 58% which is very high and
        indicative of coarse gold
    -   calculated head-grade from tests and assays by G&T Metallurgical
        Services averaged 4.4 g/t gold
    -   8,000 m drill campaign is 60% complete and pending assays are
        expected in the near future
    -   new resource estimate is on track for completion in Q4 of 2010

"Metallurgical recoveries are typically one of the largest risks facing the development of a mining project. We decided to address the metallurgical risks quickly as a part of our plans to develop an economically viable deposit. The initial results are quite positive and very encouraging especially with high gravity recoveries," said Phillip Walford, President and CEO of Marathon PGM. "While we have only been working on the Leprechaun Gold Deposit for 8 months, these initial metallurgical results are an important milestone. These results will be used in the upcoming resource estimate."

Initial Metallurgical Study - Methods and Results

Marathon retained G&T Metallurgical Services of Kamloops, BC, to conduct an initial metallurgical test work program on a composite sample of mineralization from the Leprechaun Gold Deposit. This initial phase of work comprised preliminary mineralogical and chemical characterization and preliminary gravity separation and cyanide leach testing. This work was completed under the guidance of Richard Gowans, P.Eng., President and Principal Metallurgist at Micon International Limited ("Micon").

Approximately 50 kg of split drill core was selected by Marathon for the metallurgical test work program. The samples chosen for the metallurgical composite were selected to represent typical mineralization at about average grade for the Leprechaun Gold Deposit. The average grade of the composite samples was 4.16 g/t Au, based on core assays to prepare the composite for metallurgical testing. The good agreement between the average grade calculated from the core assays, and the head grade determined for the metallurgical tests demonstrates that the core assays are representative of the Leprechaun Deposit's mineralization.

Preliminary gravity separation results on samples ground to 80% passing 71 and 120 microns gave gold recoveries of 58% and 45%, respectively. Standard cyanide bottle roll leach tests undertaken on the tailings from the gravity separation tests gave total gravity plus leach recoveries of between 93 to 94% for the finer sample and 89% to 91% for the coarser ground material.

These preliminary metallurgical test results suggest that gold recoveries of over 90% could be achieved by using standard gravity separation and cyanide leach technologies.

The mineralogical and chemical characterization study comprised chemical analysis, modal analysis using QEMSCAN and gold particle occurrence analysis using Automated Digital Imaging System (ADIS). This program of work suggests that much of the gold occurs as liberated particles or as particles adhering to pyrite grains. The average gold grain size was estimated at approximately 51 microns, which is coarse and explains the good gravity separation.

Phillip Walford, P.Geo., President and CEO is Marathon's Qualified Person in compliance with National Instrument 43-101 with respect to this release. Mr. Walford has reviewed the contents for accuracy and has approved this press release on behalf of Marathon. Richard Gowans, P.Eng., President and Principal Metallurgist at Micon, is the Independent Qualified Person in compliance with National Instrument 43-101 with respect to this release. Mr. Gowans has reviewed the contents for accuracy and has approved this press release on behalf of Micon.

About Marathon PGM Corporation:

Marathon is actively developing resources in the immediate vicinity of the Marathon Deposit to expand the life of the planned large tonnage, open pit mining operation. The Marathon Deposit is one of the largest PGM-Cu reserves in Canada and is expected to grow with the development of additional nearby resources. Marathon's optimized P+P reserve of approximately 91.45 million tonnes grading 0.832 g/t Pd, 0.237 g/t Pt, 0.085 g/t Au, 0.247% Cu and 1.44 g/t Ag, contains approximately 2.44 million ounces of Pd, 696,000 ounces of Pt, 251,000 ounces of Au, 497 million lbs of Cu and 4.23 million ounces of Ag. Marathon also has development and exploration stage properties in southeastern Manitoba and western Newfoundland respectively. Marathon's Management plans to build on its experience through the advancement of its properties and by examining other strategic opportunities.

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Except for statements of historical fact relating to Marathon, 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 Management's Discussion and Analysis for the year ended December 31, 2009.

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.