News

Canada Zinc Metals Provides Update on the Akie Project

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada – Tuesday, May 10, 2011 – Canada Zinc Metals Corp. (TSX Venture Exchange: CZX) is pleased to provide an update on current activities on its 100% owned Akie property, which includes the Cardiac Creek SEDEX zinc-lead-silver deposit. The property is located approximately 260 kilometers north-northwest of the town of Mackenzie in northeastern British Columbia, Canada.

A technical work program which commenced on March 5th was recently completed on the property, including extension of the access trail to the proposed portal site, excavation of a series of test pits and the completion of six hydrogeological and geotechnical drill holes.

The drilling was designed to test overburden and bedrock conditions at the proposed portal site, examine the ground conditions in the hangingwall and footwall of the Cardiac Creek zone, and install groundwater monitoring wells to help establish baseline data for continued environmental monitoring. The engineering and environmental data will be compiled over the next month and will provide design criteria for final engineering designs for the portal and the decline; and environmental criteria for water management plans.

The surface expression of the Cardiac Creek zone was exposed in a cut during construction of the access trail. Preliminary mapping and sampling of the zone will be completed once the site is snow free. Of the two holes drilled along the access trail, Drill Hole A-11-85, located approximately 825m along strike from the deposit, intersected the Cardiac Creek zone 30 metres below surface from 60.40 metres to 83.40 metres (down hole depth). The interval of interest consisted primarily of interbedded sulphide and shale characteristic of proximal facies mineralization (thickly bedded pyrite +/- nodular barite) with minor sphalerite. Individual sulphide beds are on the order of 10-40 cm thick with an aggregate thickness in excess of 10 meters. Sampling and assay of the interval will be undertaken in June when the summer exploration program is anticipated to begin.

In other developments, Canada Zinc Metals is pleased to report that the Company submitted a comprehensive permit application to the British Columbia government on April 15, 2011 for underground exploration. Approval is anticipated in June, in time for a summer start-up. Work plans call for upgrade of the access trail for waste rock hauling, construction of the portal pad, and commencement of the main decline for exploration drilling. An underground drill program of 16,000 metres is designed to further define the overall dimension and grade of the Cardiac Creek deposit and is anticipated to commence in early 2012 after sufficient underground advance has been achieved.

The Company is presently awaiting final engineered designs and, once received, will move to tender the design package for contractor bids from qualified underground mine contractors.

The Company has received and reviewed proposals from qualified engineering companies for a Preliminary Economic Assessment. A final decision on the successful consultant is expected to be made shortly, and the study will then be commisioned.

The Company is awaiting a drill permit from the government for the continuation of the surface exploration program at the Cardiac Creek zone, the NW Extension, and the North Lead Anomaly. Target selection will be concluded over the next several weeks. Western Exploration Diamond Drilling of Knutsford, BC, has been selected as the drilling company for the 2011 surface program. Interior Helicopters of Fort St. James, BC, has been selected as the helicopter company, and will provide machines to support both the surface heli-supported drill program and the regional mapping and sampling program planned for the other Kechika properties. Coast Mountain Geological of Vancouver, BC, will staff and manage the regional program, under the supervision of Nick Johnson, Canada Zinc Metals’ Exploration Manager.

Peeyush Varshney, President and CEO of Canada Zinc Metals, stated: “Advancing the Cardiac Creek zone towards development through extensive underground diamond drilling is the principal goal and technical focus for the next 24 months. This will provide a significant opportunity to update the Cardiac Creek resource and provide important data toward pre-feasibility and final feasibility studies. But as we await final design engineering and permitting approval, we also will be surface drill testing the strike-extent of the Cardiac Creek zone, and following up on encouraging 2010 drill results at the NW extension and North Lead Anomaly zones. In particular, Cardiac Creek style proximal mineralization, which is present at the NW Extension zone, provides a very compelling target for intersecting potentially economic grades of zinc and lead, similar to the Cardiac Creek deposit. The Zn-Ni-PGE mineralization encountered in 2010 is also intriguing and requires a dedicated follow-up to more closely examine the prospectivity of this style of mineralization, and understand its stratigraphic context.”

“In addition, we will continue to carefully examine strategic regional targets in our large Kechika Project land package. To that end we have commenced compilation of historical exploration data and have begun to develop drill targets on several other SEDEX Zn-Pb-Ag targets that have only had limited historical testing.”

About the Akie Property

The Akie zinc-lead property is situated within the southern-most part (Kechika Trough) 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 Inmet Mining Corporation during the period 1994 to 1996 and by Canada Zinc Metals since 2005 has identified a significant body of baritic-zinc-lead SEDEX mineralization (Cardiac Creek deposit). The deposit is hosted by variably siliceous, fine grained clastic rocks of the Middle to Late Devonian ‘Gunsteel’ formation. The Company has outlined a NI 43-101 compliant inferred resource of 23.6 million tonnes grading 7.6% zinc, 1.5% lead and 13.0 g/t silver (at a 5% zinc cut off grade).

Two similar deposits, Cirque and Cirque South Cirque, located some 20 km northwest of Akie and owned under a joint venture by Teck Resources and Korea Zinc, are also hosted by Gunsteel rocks and have a combined geologic inventory in excess of 50 million tonnes (not 43-101 compliant) grading approximately 10% combined zinc + lead.

In addition to the Akie property, Canada Zinc Metals Corp. controls a large contiguous group of claims which comprise the Kechika Regional project. These claims are underlain by geology identical to that on the Akie property (Cardiac Creek deposit) and Cirque. This project includes the 100% owned Mt. Alcock property, which has yielded a historic drill intercept of 8.8 metres grading 9.3% zinc+lead, numerous zinc-lead-barite occurrences, and several regional base metal anomalies.

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