Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada –Wednesday, February 15, 2017 – Canada Zinc Metals Corp. (“Canada Zinc” or “the Company”, TSX Venture Exchange: CZX) is pleased to announce the 2017 exploration plans for the Akie and Kechika North projects.
The Company has outlined an extensive and aggressive diamond drill program of up to 7,500 metres that will focus primarily on the Cardiac Creek deposit with the aim to expand the size of the deposit, improve the confidence of the current resource categories and test other key property targets for the presence of new occurrences of Zn-Pb-Ag mineralisation.
2017 Exploration Plan
Diamond Drilling Program
The 2017 exploration program will focus on the Cardiac Creek stratiform Zn-Pb-Ag deposit located on the Akie property. To date, there is a total 59,260 metres in 139 drill holes on the Akie property testing the Cardiac Creek mineralized horizon. Of these, 104 drill holes, totaling 46,886 metres, contribute to the current NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate for the Cardiac Creek deposit. The remaining 35 drill holes test the zone over a total strike length of almost 7 kilometres.
The Company plans on mobilizing two drills to the Akie property to complete an extensive and aggressive diamond drill program of up to 7,500 metres for 2017. Up to 5,000 metres of drilling is planned to target the Cardiac Creek deposit with a focus on expanding the down-dip limits of the high-grade core of the deposit as well as other expansion targets down-dip and along strike.
Up to 2,500 metres of drill testing is planned to focus on infill targets across the deposit with the primary purpose of providing additional material for subsequent metallurgical lab testing.
Additional exploration drill targets will be considered across the Akie property such as; the North Lead Zone where previous drilling has intersected extensive intervals of bedded pyrite mineralisation highly anomalous in zinc, alteration and a thin massive sulphide lens; the South Zinc Anomaly which is defined by a large (~2 kilometre by 500 metre) zinc in soil anomaly; and the Sitka Showing located on the eastern edge of the Akie property that is characterized by a thick barite vein or bed hosting disseminated coarse grained galena and sphalerite.
In addition to the drilling, the Company is also planning a Ground gravity survey over select targets as well as further soil sampling to expand upon open-ended anomalies located on the eastern edges of the property associated with the Sitka Showing that were defined in the 2013 exploration program. These data, coupled with existing airborne gravity data, airborne VTEM data, structural analysis and a recently revised regional geological base map will be used to prioritize additional drill targets on the Akie property.
The diamond drill program is expected to start early June and continue through to end of September.
Mr. Peeyush Varshney, President and CEO, of the Company states, "The 2017 exploration program will focus on our flagship Akie project and the Cardiac Creek deposit. Results from the 2015 drilling on the deposit represented an expansion of the high-grade zone of the deposit down-dip. We anticipate that this season’s targeted drilling will increase the dimensions and level of confidence in the resource down-dip. The results will ultimately help plan subsequent stages of exploration on the Akie property and development of the deposit.”
Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA)
The Company is currently evaluating proposals from qualified 3rd party engineering firms with the intent to complete a PEA by Q4 of 2017. The additional metallurgical results from the 2017 drill program will be used in the development of the PEA.
“We strongly believe the recent upturn in the price of zinc is signaling the beginning of the long-expected and dramatic decline in global zinc inventories combined with the lack of new supply. In the face of a potential extended multi-year zinc shortage, Canada Zinc Metals is positioned as a premier zinc explorer with a world-class zinc deposit situated in a geopolitically and financially stable jurisdiction,” commented Mr. Varshney.
The Kechika Regional Project
The Company is the 100% owner of eleven, large, contiguous property blocks that comprise the Akie and Kechika Regional projects. The Company’s flagship Akie Project is host to the Cardiac Creek deposit and remains the primary corporate focus. The Kechika Regional Project includes the Pie, Yuen, Cirque East and Mt. Alcock properties extending northwest from the Akie property for approximately 140 kilometres along strike of the highly prospective Gunsteel Formation shale; the main host rock for known SEDEX zinc-lead-silver deposits in the Kechika Trough of northeastern British Columbia. These projects are located approximately 260 kilometres north northwest of the town of Mackenzie, British Columbia, Canada. The generative portfolio of Kechika Regional properties offer shareholders and interested exploration companies high-potential opportunities for new discoveries in the Kechika Trough.
Pie Option Agreement
The Pie, Yuen and Cirque East properties are the subject of an option agreement concluded on September 9, 2013 with Teck Resources Ltd. (“Teck” TSX: TCK.B) and its JV partner, Korea Zinc Co., Ltd. ("Korea Zinc" KRX:KorZinc 010130). The option agreement would see Teck and Korea Zinc spend up to $8.5 million to acquire up to 70% interest in the Pie, Yuen and Cirque East properties.
Teck has spent over $1.3 million in exploration expenditures since 2013 (2 field seasons) on the Pie Option Properties using an integrated approach to exploration to decrease risk and maximize the potential for discovery. In accordance with the Option Agreement Teck must spend an additional $2.2 million by the end of 2017 to exercise the “First Option” and earn Teck/Korea Zinc an undivided 51% interest in the Pie Option Properties. Upon exercising the First Option, Teck would have an additional option (the "Second Option") to acquire a further 19% interest in the properties for a total of 70%, by incurring an additional $5.0 million in exploration expenditures on or before December 31, 2019.
Expenditures for the recently completed 2016 exploration program on the Pie Option Properties are anticipated to be in the order of $1.6 to $1.9 million.
Akie Property
The Company’s flagship Akie property is situated within the Kechika Trough, the southernmost area of the regionally extensive Paleozoic Selwyn Basin, 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-silver 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 19.6 million tonnes grading 8.2% zinc, 1.6% lead and 13.6 g/t silver (at a 5% zinc cut-off grade) and an inferred resource of 8.1 million tonnes grading 6.8% zinc, 1.1% lead and 11.2 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
