Canada Zinc Metals Announces New High Grade Drill Results from the
Cardiac Creek Deposit, Akie Property
Drill hole A-14-111 intersects high grade core of Cardiac Creek deposit including
10.18% combined Zn+Pb and 10.54 g/t Ag over 9.44 metres
August 20, 2014
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada – Wednesday August 20, 2014 – Canada Zinc Metals Corp. (TSX Venture Exchange: CZX) is pleased to announce the Company has received the assay results from the first two diamond drill holes of the 2014 exploration program on the Cardiac Creek deposit. The Akie property is the Company’s 100% owned flagship exploration project and is host to the Cardiac Creek SEDEX Zn-Pb-Ag deposit. The Akie property is located approximately 260 kilometres north-northwest of the town of Mackenzie, in northeastern British Columbia, Canada.
2014 Drilling Program – Cardiac Creek Deposit
The Company completed 8 HQ diamond drill holes on the Cardiac Creek deposit, totaling 2,855 metres. The drilling focused on targets along the up-dip, northwest and southeast areas of the deposit with the objective of expanding the boundary of the internal high grade core as well as expanding the overall perimeter of the deposit. A total of 715 sawn core samples, including industry standard QA/QC samples, were taken and submitted to Acme Labs in Vancouver BC, an ISO 9001 and 17025 certified assay and geochemical analytical lab. Results have been received from the first two of eight drill holes, A-14-111 and A-14-112.
Drill hole A-14-111 targeted the up-dip edge of the internal high grade core of the deposit with a pierce point located along strike of holes A-07-49 and A-08-54 and up-dip of hole A-10-73B, with an average separation of approximately 75 metres. The hole intersected a well-developed proximal facies zone of thickly bedded, laminated pyrite and nodular barite mineralisation overlying the Cardiac Creek Zone from 301.60 to 302.94 metres. The Cardiac Creek zone, intersected from 305.44 to 351.41 metres, is characterized by thickly bedded pyrite, sphalerite and galena-rich sulphide mineralisation interbedded with siliceous black shale of the Gunsteel Formation. Higher grade sections of the zone are marked by an increasing concentration of silver grey sphalerite and galena within pyritic-rich sulphide beds and a transition from well-defined bedding planes to a more mottled appearance. The zone is underlain by a 4.11 metre thick interval of the Paul River Formation debris flow. The hole was terminated in footwall rocks at a downhole depth of 374.6 metres.
The hole returned 5.58% combined Zn+Pb and 9.80 g/t Ag over an extensive true width of 34.75 metres, from a downhole depth of 305.44 to 351.41 metres. Included within this significant envelope of mineralisation which represents the Cardiac Creek zone are intervals of high grade zinc, lead and silver mineralisation that are outlined in the table below. This includes 9.44 metres (true width) of combined 10.18% Zn+Pb and 10.54 g/t Ag, from a downhole depth of 317.85 to 330.34 metres. A total of 11 individual samples with an aggregate thickness of 7.40 metres exceeded 10% zinc (ranging from 10.5% zinc to 18.1% zinc) illustrating the high grade nature in the core of the deposit at this elevation.
Hole-ID |
From (m) |
To (m) |
True Width (m)* |
Zn (%) |
Pb (%) |
Ag (g/t)Ɨ |
Zn+Pb (%) |
A-14-111 |
305.44 |
351.41 |
34.75 |
4.80 |
0.78 |
9.80 |
5.58 |
including |
317.00 |
340.16 |
17.51 |
7.39 |
1.15 |
10.91 |
8.54 |
including |
317.85 |
330.34 |
9.44 |
8.93 |
1.25 |
10.54 |
10.18 |
including |
319.90 |
329.07 |
6.93 |
9.11 |
1.23 |
10.93 |
10.34 |
(*) True widths are calculated on the basis that the deposit has an overall average dip of 70° to the southwest from the horizontal
(Ɨ) Values below the detection limit have been given a value of half the detection limit for the purposes of weighted averages
Drill hole A-14-112 targeted the northwest up-dip edge of the deposit with a pierce point located approximately 120 metres along strike from the excellent results obtained from A-13-106. A-13-106 returned an interval grading 7.53% combined Zn+Pb and 10.70 g/t Ag over 10.56 metres that includes a high grade core grading 10.53% combined Zn+Pb and 13.69g/t Ag over 6.63 metres (please refer to company new release November 25, 2013).
Hole A-14-112 hole encountered weakly developed intervals of distal facies mineralisation in the hanging wall to the Cardiac Creek Zone from 279.43 to 337.15 metres. An immediate transition into the Cardiac Creek Zone facies occurred at 337.15 metres which continued to a depth of 358.62 metres. The Cardiac Creek Zone consists of thickly bedded pyrite, sphalerite and galena-rich sulphide beds interbedded with black siliceous Gunsteel Formation shale. A thin interval of Paul River Formation debris flow underlies the deposit from 358.62 to 362.39 metres and the hole ended in Road River Group Silurian siltstone at a final downhole depth of 397.46 metres.
A-14-112 returned 5.27% Zn+Pb and 6.87 g/t Ag over a true width of 13.70 metres, from a downhole depth of 337.15 to 356.30 metres. This envelope of mineralisation contains several intervals of higher grade zinc, lead and silver mineralisation, including 6.91% combined Zn+Pb and 8.02 g/t Ag over a true width of 7.87 metres from a downhole depth of 345.30 to 356.30 metres. These intervals are outlined in the table below. A total of 9 samples returned zinc values in excess of 5% representing an aggregate length of 5.63 metres, including 3 samples greater than 10% zinc. These assays demonstrate the consistency of grade in an under-explored area of the deposit.
Hole ID |
From (m) |
To (m) |
True Width (m)* |
Zn (%) |
Pb (%) |
Ag (g/t) |
Zn+Pb (%) |
A-14-112 |
337.15 |
356.30 |
13.70 |
4.57 |
0.70 |
6.87 |
5.27 |
A-14-112 |
343.00 |
356.30 |
9.52 |
5.71 |
0.88 |
7.86 |
6.59 |
A-14-112 |
345.30 |
356.30 |
7.87 |
5.97 |
0.94 |
8.02 |
6.91 |
A-14-112 |
349.00 |
356.30 |
5.23 |
6.28 |
0.89 |
8.23 |
7.17 |
(*) True widths are calculated on the basis that the deposit has an overall average dip of 70° to the southwest from the horizontal
Peeyush Varshney, President and CEO, commented: “We are pleased with the initial results received from the 2014 drill program on the Cardiac Creek deposit. Drill hole 111 demonstrated excellent thickness and grade continuity across the up-dip segment of the high grade core of the deposit; in line with the neighboring holes. Future drilling will involve infill targets in this area to improve the drill density. Drill hole 112 provided a 120 metre step-out on the extreme northwest and up-dip edge of the deposit in an area with sparse drill density. This intercept has effectively extended the zone at relatively shallow depth in an under-explored portion of the deposit.”
At this time drill results are pending for the remaining 6 drill holes of the 2014 drill program, and will be reported as they become available.
Yuen North
The Company is also pleased to announce that it has received soil and rock sample results from its Yuen North property. The Yuen North property was staked in early 2014 lying between and is contiguous with the Mt. Alcock property to the north, and the Yuen Property to the south. The property measures approximately 2,687 hectares and extends claim coverage over an inferred western panel of Gunsteel Formation shale by a strike length of approximately 5 kilometres. The interpreted western panel is along strike of Teck’s Cirque deposit located approximately 14 kilometres to the southeast.
The Yuen North area was flown by the Company as part of its 2013 regional VTEM Airborne Geophysical Survey. Examination of the data showed several strong, parallel linear conductive trends similar to the distinctive EM signature of the Gunsteel Formation shale known from the Akie and Pie properties. The conductive trends connect the Yuen property to the Mt Alcock property, adding a collective 15 kilometres of strike extent of the prospective western panel of interpreted Gunsteel Formation shale. The conductive trends on Yuen North demonstrate several interesting bulge features which may represent fault intersections or structural folds. These features were recommended for further evaluation, in particular because they align with Ba-Pb±Zn soil geochemical anomalism from historical soil data.
A total of 222 soil samples were taken in 2014 to extend and infill historical soil sampling from the 1980’s when over 2,600 samples were taken. The 2014 results confirm and extend a long linear northwest trending zinc-lead-barite anomaly that now measures approximately 4.5 kilometres long by an average of approximately 500 metres wide; and aligns closely to historical mapped coverage of the prospective Gunsteel Formation panel and the linear conductive VTEM trends.
Anomalous soil results include 16 samples that exceed 1,000 ppm zinc, 9 samples that exceed 18,000 ppm barite, and 5 samples that exceed 100 ppm lead. The anomaly is open to the west on its southern limit.
A few opportunistic rock grab samples were also taken during the soil survey, including examples of weathered siliceous Gunsteel Formation shale with nodular barite and rusty laminations. The sampling highlights the highly anomalous baritic nature of the area as indicated in the soil sampling. Several rocks grab samples from ferrocrete located near an iron seep (Crème Brulee Creek) returned highly anomalous iron and elevated to anomalous barite as well. Follow-up mapping and additional sampling will be conducted in 2015.
The Akie Zn-Pb-Ag Project
The Akie property is situated within the Kechika Trough, the southernmost area of the regionally extensive Paleozoic Selwyn Basin and one of the most prolific sedimentary basins in the world for the occurrence of SEDEX zinc-lead-silver and stratiform barite deposits.
Drilling on the Akie property by Canada Zinc Metals since 2005 has identified a significant body of baritic-zinc-lead SEDEX mineralisation known as the Cardiac Creek deposit. The deposit is hosted by siliceous, carbonaceous, fine grained clastic rocks of the Middle to Late Devonian Gunsteel Formation.
The Company has outlined a NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource at Cardiac Creek, including an indicated resource of 12.7 million tonnes grading 8.4% zinc, 1.7% lead and 13.7 g/t silver (at a 5% zinc cut-off grade) and an inferred resource of 16.3 million tonnes grading 7.4% zinc, 1.3% lead and 11.6 g/t silver (at a 5% zinc cut-off grade).
Ken MacDonald P.Geo., Vice President of Exploration, is the designated Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for the technical information contained in this release.
The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
CANADA ZINC METALS CORP.
“PEEYUSH VARSHNEY”
PEEYUSH VARSHNEY, LL.B
CEO & CHAIRMAN