The Valentine Lake property hosts a structurally controlled, mesothermal gold deposit associated with Salinic aged crustal shortening and deformation. Gold mineralisation is developed within QTP vein sets associated with brittle-ductile deformation of granitoid rocks of the Neoproterozoic Valentine Lake Intrusive Complex in contact with the Silurian Rogerson Lake Conglomerate. This contact is formed by the Valentine Lake Shear Zone, a major crustal scale, NE-SW lithotectonic boundary.

Set 1 QTP-Au veins developed within brittle extensional fractures dipping at a low angle to the SW represent the dominant mineralisation style at the property. These represent the principal structural control on gold mineralisation in the mineral resource models for the Marathon, Leprechaun, Sprite, Victory and Berry deposits.

The Valentine Lake property is located within the Exploits Subzone of the Dunnage tectonostratigraphic zone of Central Newfoundland, part of the Newfoundland Appalachian system. Gold mineralisation within the Dunnage Zone is correlated with late syn- to post Salinic orogenic events and is typically spatially related to major structural features and proximal to, or hosted within, intrusive bodies.

The Valentine Lake Intrusive Complex comprises an elongate northeast-trending body of igneous rocks consisting of dominantly fine- to medium-grained trondhjemite and quartz-eye porphyry units with lesser aphanitic quartz porphyry, gabbro, and minor pyroxenite units. The Rogerson Lake Conglomerate occurs as a narrow linear unit that extends for approximately 160 km and lies unconformably (overturned) on the southeast margin of the Valentine Lake Intrusive Complex. The conglomerate is interpreted to have infilled a fault-bounded paleo-topographic depression. The entire project area is overlain by glacial till between 1 and 5 m thick, as well as boggy areas and ponds, with bedrock exposure along a ridge trending northeast-southwest through the property and in stream beds.

Recent project scale structural investigations by Terrane Geosciences Inc. for Marathon, and more regionally by the Geological Survey of Canada, has established a geotectonic chronology for the deformation within the project area. Five phases of deformation are recognised. A penetrative ductile fabric associated with initiation of the Valentine Lake Shear Zone during an initial D1 crustal shortening phase is characterised by a strong S1 foliation and L1 stretching lineation. These fabrics are observed in both the Rogerson Lake Conglomerate and in the Valentine Lake Intrusive Complex, with a SW strike and steep dip to the NW, paralleling the larger structure. Gold mineralisation occurs in Quartz-Tourmaline-Pyrite (QTP) vein sets developed within the Valentine Lake Intrusive Complex correlated with a D3 phase of renewed crustal shortening following a period of regional D2 relaxation. Overprinting fabrics include a late D4 crenulation fabric and a D5 brittle fault set.

The QTP-Au veining has been identified in prospecting samples, outcrop, trenching and drilling at numerous locations along the 20 km strike extent of the Valentine Lake Intrusive Complex and Valentine Lake Shear Zone within the Valentine Lake property. Significant QTP-Au veining occurs dominantly within the trondhjemite, quartz-eye porphyry and lesser mafic dike units along and proximal to the sheared contact with the Rogerson Lake conglomerate. Minor amounts of gold- bearing QTP veining extends across the Valentine Lake Shear Zone contact and into the Rogerson Lake Conglomerate.

The gold mineralisation at the Valentine Lake property occurs as structurally controlled, orogenic gold deposits consisting dominantly of en-echelon stacked SW dipping extensional vein sets (Set 1) and lesser shear parallel vein sets (Set 2) proximal to the VLSZ. This style of mineralisation occurs intermittently along the defined strike length of the main gold zone in which a series of deposits and occurrences have been, and continue to be, discovered. Discoveries to date include the Marathon, Leprechaun, Sprite, Victory and Berry gold deposits, and the Frank, Rainbow, Steve, Scott, Triangle, Victoria Bridge, Narrows, Victory SW, and Victory NE occurrences.

At the deposit scale, a pervasively altered, intensely QTP-veined core complex, which is referred to by Marathon Gold as the “Main Zone”, has been delineated at the Marathon, Leprechaun and Berry deposits. The Main Zones of the Marathon and Leprechaun deposits are well defined by thorough outcrop investigation and densely spaced subsurface drillhole information. At Leprechaun, the Main Zone transitions into the associated hanging wall and footwall mineralisation. Further exploration work is required at the other deposits and occurrences to determine if the Main Zone model is present at these locales.

Individual QTP-Au veins range in thickness from a few millimetres and centimetres to metres but are typically 2 to 30 cm thick. The Set 1 extensional and Set 2 shear-parallel QTP-Au veins are up to 1.5 m thick and have been traced in trenched outcrop exposures for over 280 m of continuous strike length; however, the observed strike length of individual veins is typically in the range of metres to tens of centimetres. Up to three separate vein sets have been identified at the Leprechaun and Marathon deposits, and up to four vein sets at the Berry deposit. Set 1 QTP-Au veins developed within brittle extensional fractures dipping at a low angle to the southwest are the dominant mineralisation style at the property. The QTP-Au veins represent the principal structural control on gold mineralisation in the mineral resource models for the Marathon, Leprechaun, Sprite, Victory and Berry deposits.

Visible gold in the QTP veins occurs as grains, ranging in size from <0.1 mm and up to 1-2 mm, hosted by quartz, tourmaline masses, within and along the margins of coarse cubic pyrite, or associated with minor tellurides. Highest gold grades are commonly associated with large (1 to 3 cm) cubic pyrite within the QTP veining.

The relationship between high-grade gold mineralisation and the location of the dykes supports the theory that the mafic dykes provide a rheologic contrast that (1) promotes brittle fracturing of the granitoid unit and therefore, acts as a controlling factor of mineralised fluid flow, and (2) incites the eventual emplacement of zones of gold enrichment.

Mining is based on conventional open pit methods suited for the project location and loca site requirements. The mining fleet will include diesel-powered rotary drills with 203 mm bit size for bulk production drilling and down the hole (DTH) drills with 165 mm bit size for selective drilling; diesel-powered RC drills for bench-scale grade control drilling; 15.5 m 3 bucket sized hydraulic excavators and 13 m 3 bucket sized wheel loaders for bulk production loading and 12.0 m 3 bucket-size diesel hydraulic excavators for selective production loading; 140- and 90-tonne payload rigid- frame haul trucks and 40-tonne articulated trucks for production hauling; plus ancillary and service equipment to support the mining operations. In-pit dewatering systems will be established for each pit. All surface water and precipitation in the pits will be handled by diesel-driven pumps.

Ore will be hauled to a crusher 3.5 km southwest of the Marathon pit and 3.0 km northeast of the Leprechaun pit. Ore will be crushed to feed the process plant, while waste rock will be deposited into waste rock storage facilities (WRSF) adjacent to the pits or used as rockfill to construct a tailings dam 2 km southwest of the Marathon pit and 4.5 km northeast of the Leprechaun pit. Ultimate pit limits are split into phases or pushbacks to target higher economic margin material earlier in the mine life. Both the Marathon and Leprechaun pits are split into three phases, or an initial phase followed by two pushbacks, with the initial phases containing higher gold grade mineralisation and a lower strip ratio.

During the pre-stripping phase, all ore mined in the pit will be stockpiled. Throughout the life of operations, ore grading between 0.30 and 0.80 g/t Au will be stored in low-grade stockpiles near the pits. Cut-off grade optimisation on the mine production schedule will send ore above 0.80 g/t Au to a high-grade ore stockpile near the primary crusher. The low-grade stockpiled mineral reserves are planned to be re-handled and fed to the crusher once the pits are exhausted.

Mining operations will be based on 365 operating days per year with two 12-hour shifts per day. An allowance of 15 days of no mine production has been built into the mine schedule to allow for adverse weather conditions. Maintenance on mine equipment will be performed in the field with major repairs to mobile equipment in the shops located near the plant facilities. Annual mine operating costs per tonne mined range from $2.05 to $4.50/t with a LOM average of $2.55/t mined. Owner-operated mine operations will include grade control and production drilling, blasting, loading, hauling, and pit, haul road and stockpile maintenance functions. Mobile equipment maintenance operations will also be managed by the Owner and are included in the mine planning and costs. The mine equipment fleet is planned to be purchased via a lease financing arrangement.

Pit designs are configured on 6 m bench heights, with 8.1 m wide berms placed every three benches, or triple benching. Bench face angles, and subsequent inter-ramp angles, are varied based on prescribed geotechnical design sectors.

In-pit haul roads and geotechnical berms (25 m wide) are added to the pit designs and flatten the inter-ramp slopes out to shallower overall slopes. Geotechnical berms are placed on 90 m vertical spacing, wherever in-pit ramps are not present.

A 12 m wide berm is left at the bedrock contact with overburden. Groundwater flow is estimated to be higher along this bedrock contact. This berm is added to catch potential sloughing from the overburden above, as well as to allow sufficient room for water management features to be constructed.

In-Pit Haul Roads
Two-way haul roads of 28 m width are sized to handle 140-tonne payload rigid frame haul trucks. Haul road grades are limited to a maximum of 10%. Access ramps are not designed for the last two benches of the pit bottom, on the assumption that the bottom ramp segment will be removed using some form of retreat mining. The bottom two ramped benches of the pit use one-way haul roads of 21 m width and 12% grade since bench volumes and traffic flow are reduced.

Pit Phases
Ultimate pit limits are generally split up into phases or pushbacks to target higher economic margin material earlier in the mine life. Minimum pushback distances of 60 m are honoured to maintain productive headings. The Marathon pit is split into three phases with the higher-grade, lower-stripratio first phase mined ahead of the two pushbacks to the north, east, and south.

The Leprechaun pit is split into three phases with the higher grade, lower strip ratio first phase mined ahead of west, north, and south pushback second phase and an east and north pushback third phase.

In essence, the project will be constructed in two distinct phases, as follows:
• Phase 1 (2.5 Mt/a) – Comprises a semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill, ball mill, gravity concentration, and gravity tails leaching, carbon elution, and gold recovery. Leach-adsorption tails will be treated for cyanide destruction, thickened, and deposited in the TMF.
• Phase 2 (expansion to 4.0 Mt/a) – Includes Phase 1 equipment with the addition of pebble crushing, gravity tails flotation, flotation concentrate regrind, float concentrate leaching, and thickening of both the float concentrate and tailings streams.

Phase 1
The crushing circuit is designed for an annual operating time of 6,570h/a or 75% availability at the Phase 2 capacity of 10,960 t/d from the outset.

Material is hauled from the mine or stockpiles and direct tipped into to the ROM hopper. Provision for dumping on the ROM pad for blending and re-handling into the ROM hopper is provided. Material from the ROM hopper is crushed by a primary jaw crusher. ROM hopper material is reclaimed by a vibrating grizzly at 381t/h to feed the jaw crusher.

A fixed rock breaker is utilised to break oversize rocks at the feed to the jaw crusher. The crushed material is conveyed to a covered stockpile that provides approximately 19hours of live storage at the Phase 1 processing rate. Given the milling operation is designed for an annual operating time of 8,059 h/a or 92% availability, this will result in excess crushed material production when the crusher is operational. The excess crushed material will allow routine crusher maintenance to be carried out without interrupting feed to the mill.

The mill feed stockpile is equipped with apron feeders to regulate feed at 310t/h into the SAG mill. Crushed material is drawn from the stockpile by two apron feeders and feeds the SAG mill and ball mill circuit via the SAG mill feed conveyor. Pebble lime is added to the SAG mill feed conveyor for pH control in leaching as required. SAG mill pebble production is recycled via a series of conveyors back to the SAG mill feed conveyor.

The material handling and crushing circuit includes the following key equipment:
-ROM hopper;
-vibrating grizzly;
-fixed rock breaker;
-primary jaw crusher;
-mill feed apron feeders (equipped with VSDs);
-material handling equipment.

The grinding circuit consists of a SAG mill followed by a ball mill in closed circuit with hydrocyclones. The circuit is sized based on a SAG F80of 130 mm and a ball mill product P80of 75 µm. The SAG mill slurry discharges through a trommel where the pebbles are screened and recycled to the SAG mill via conveyors. Trommel undersize discharges into the cyclone feed pumpbox. The ball mill is fed by cyclone underflow and gravity circuit tails.

The ball mill discharges through a trommel and the oversize is screened out and discharged to a scats bunker. Trommel undersize discharges into the cyclone feed pumpbox.

Water is added to the cyclone feed pumpbox to obtain the appropriate density prior to pumping to the cyclones. This hopper also has a dedicated pump to feed the gravity circuit scalping screen. Cyclone overflow gravitates to the leach-adsorption circuit via a trash screen.

The grinding circuit includes the following key equipment:
• 4,600 kW SAG mill (shared VFD with ball mill);
• 4,600 kW ball mill;
• cyclone feed pumpbox;
• classification cyclones.

Phase 2
The crushing circuit is identical to the equivalent area in Phase 1, except for the addition of a pebble crusher in the pebble recycle circuit. As in Phase 1, The SAG mill slurry discharges through a trommel where the pebbles are screened and recycled to the SAG mill via conveyors, but in this phase, the addition of a pebble crusher in the recycle circuit will avoid build-up in the SAG mill. The conveyor recycle circuit has an installed tramp magnet and the following conveyor has a metal detector installed, to protect the pebble crusher from ball parts or other metal scraps that may cause it damage. The pebble crusher may be bypassed for maintenance using a diverter chute.

The grinding circuit is identical to the equivalent area in Phase 1 (see Section 17.2.3), except for an increase in the primary grind P 80 to 150 µm.

In essence, the project will be constructed in two distinct phases, as follows:
• Phase 1 (2.5 Mt/a) – Comprises a semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill, ball mill, gravity concentration, and gravity tails leaching, carbon elution, and gold recovery. Leach-adsorption tails will be treated for cyanide destruction, thickened, and deposited in the TMF.
• Phase 2 (expansion to 4.0 Mt/a) – Includes Phase 1 equipment with the addition of pebble crushing, gravity tails flotation, flotation concentrate regrind, float concentrate leaching, and
thickening of both the float concentrate and tailings streams.

Key process design criteria are listed below:
• Phase 1 nominal throughput of 6,850 t/d or 2.5 Mt/a;
• Phase 2 nominal throughput of 10,960 t/d or 4.0 Mt/a;
• crushing plant availability of 75%;
• plant availability of 92% for grinding, gravity concentration, flotation, and leach plant and gold recovery operations.

Phase 1
The gra ........