Marathon's Growth Continues, Ore Fault Property Acquisition Completed

TORONTO, Aug. 19 /CNW/ - Marathon PGM Corporation ("Marathon" or "the Company", MAR-TSX) is pleased to announce that it has acquired the Ore Fault Property ("OFP") from Bird River Mines Inc (CNQ: BRMI). The OFP consists of 19 claims which cover 446 hectares and is located at the eastern margin of Marathon's Bird River Project, which is under option from Gossan Resources (GSS: TSX-V). The Gossan portion of the Bird River Project consists of 65 claims which cover 8,781 hectares.

    
    Highlights:

    -   acquisition of OFP will be subject to a Joint Venture with Gossan
        Resources
    -   the entire Bird River Project covers 22 km strike length of
        prospective ground
    -   multiple exploration targets identified
    -   two NI 43-101 compliant resource estimates for Bird River Project to
        be delivered in Q4
    -   Marathon is well financed with $20 million cash
    

"Acquisition of the Ore Fault gives us a very prospective land package in the Bird River Sill," said Phillip Walford, President and CEO "and gives us an excellent opportunity to develop the Page and Ore Fault resources in just the first year of exploration."

Completed and Planned Work

The initial campaign on the OFP consisted of prospecting, surface sampling and drilling of twenty-one holes (4,308m). Marathon will release an NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate for the OFP in Q4. Marathon is planning a detailed mapping program of the OFP in order to enhance the exploration model and define further drill targets. Marathon's success to date has been the result of careful planning, hard work and technical proficiency.

Multiple lenses of massive sulphide have been intersected at both the Page and Ore Fault Zones, including 15m grading 1.71% Ni at Ore Fault and 6.5m grading 1.65% Ni at Page. The lenses are contained within a 'footprint' of larger zones of lower grade mineralization, as is typical of other magmatic sulphide deposits. There is good potential for discovering other massive sulphide lenses along the 20km strike length of the Bird River Sill by following the footprint as identified in historic drilling. As an example, at Coppermine Bay, located 20 km west of Page Zone, disseminated mineralization with up to 3g/t PGM+Au occurs along 800m of strike length. A single hole located at the east end of the Coppermine Zone drilled by Canex Placer Ltd in 1973 (assessment file report 91832, Manitoba Mining District) contained an intersection grading 0.24% nickel, 0.42% copper, 1.02 g/t platinum and 1.19 g/t palladium over 12.2 m.

Dr. David Good, Marathon's VP of Exploration, completed an extensive 3-year study with the Geological Survey of Canada on global magmatic nickel and PGM deposits. His familiarity with these types of deposits plays a critical role in further enhancing and refining the exploration at the Bird River Sill.

"We accelerated our exploration plans because results exceeded expectations and in less than a year we have enough data to calculate a resource at two locations," said David Good, VP of Exploration.

OFP Purchase

Once Marathon's interest in the OFP reached 70%, Marathon exercised its option to require BRMI to sell the remaining 30% interest in the OFP. Marathon purchased the outstanding 30% interest in the OFP for a purchase price of $1,450,000. BRMI shall retain a 1.0 % net smelter return royalty (the "NSR") in all minerals and metals extracted from the OFP.

Marathon had earned a 70% interest in the OFP by making aggregate cash payments of $250,000 to BRMI and carrying out, as operator, $600,000 in exploration expenditures on the OFP before August 1, 2008.

Gossan-Marathon Joint Venture

Acquisition of the OFP will be part of a 50/50 Joint Venture between Marathon and Gossan Resources. The earn-in for the joint venture requires Marathon to make payments of $500,000 to Gossan and spend $3 million on the Gossan property by 30-April-2011. The expenditures on the Gossan and Ore Fault properties now exceed the $3 million vesting requirements and payment of the remaining cash to Gossan will trigger formation of the joint venture. As operator of the JV, Marathon has the options of continuing with the 50/50 joint venture with a dilution clause or elect within 120 days of the formation of the JV to go to a 65% interest by assuming all costs for a feasibility with an additional 5% for completing the financing.

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.

About Marathon PGM Corporation:

Marathon is in the process of completing a definitive feasibility study on the Marathon PGM-Cu deposit, which is on track for completion in September. Marathon also has development and exploration stage properties in southeastern Manitoba and western Newfoundland and Labrador. Marathon's management plans to build on this focus through the advancement of its properties, focusing on resource development and by examining other strategic PGM and base metal opportunities within Canada.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Information:

Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Company, certain information contained herein constitutes "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan," "expect," "project," "intend," "believe," "anticipate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. 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, 2007. Circumstances or management's estimates or opinions could change, and management disclaims any obligation to revise or update forward-looking statements, whether for new information, future events or otherwise. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

    
    On Behalf of Marathon PGM:

    "Phillip C. Walford"
    Phillip C. Walford, P.Geo.
    President, Chief Executive Officer
    Tel: +1.416.987.0711
    gen@marathonpgm.com
    

Contacts

David Leng
P.Geo: Tel: (416) 849-3432
Fax: (416) 861-1925
dleng@marathonpgm.com