News

Drilling Intersects 10.01% Zinc + Lead over 5.3 metres in A-11-96 on the Cardiac Creek Deposit

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada - Wednesday, December 28, 2011 - Canada Zinc Metals Corp. (TSX Venture Exchange: CZX) is pleased to announce additional drill results from the 2011 exploration  program on its 100% owned Akie Project.

The Akie property, host to the Cardiac Creek SEDEX Zn-Pb-Ag deposit, is located approximately 260 kilometers north-northwest of the town of Mackenzie, in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. The Company also owns the Kechika group of regional properties that extend northwest from the Akie property for 140 kilometers, centered along the prospective stratigraphy of the Gunsteel Formation of Northeastern B.C. The 2011 exploration program also included a regional program focused principally on 2 southern claim groupings, the Pie and the Mt. Alcock properties. Analysis of the regional results is ongoing. 

Akie Property
Diamond drilling on the Akie property commenced in May and lasted approximately 4 months. Work included HQ diamond drilling on several targets across the Akie property including the SE Extension, Cardiac Creek Zone, the NW Extension and the GPS bedded barite showing. The drilling program consisted of 12 holes totaling 5,667.81 metres that were drilled to their planned depths. Three holes totaling 360.58 metres were abandoned due to poor ground conditions or excessive deviation. Refer to press release dated December 5th, 2011 for previously released 2011 drill results.

The updated results from the drilling program are summarized below.

Cardiac Creek Deposit

A total of 6 drill holes (A-11-92, A-11-93, A-11-95, A-11-96, A-11-98 and A-11-99) were completed on the Cardiac Creek deposit. These holes provided infill information both up and down-dip as well as testing the strike extent of the high grade trend along the southeastern edges of the deposit. Step-out drilling was also conducted to the southeast designed to expand the known limits of the deposit.

To date, Canada Zinc Metals has received assay results from 4 of the 6 Cardiac Creek Zone drill holes. This includes the previously reported holes A-11-92 and A-11-93 and new results from A-11-95 and A-11-96. The pierce point for hole A-11-95 represents an approximate 100 metre step-out along strike from the high grade intercept in A-11-93 to the southeast. It is also situated between the pierce points for A-94-04 and A-11-92. The results from this hole indicate that the mineralization of the deposit remains open to the southeast allowing for further expansion of the deposit. The pierce point for hole A-11-96 is located approximately 100 metres up-dip from A-08-66 in an open area situated below the Cardiac Creek showing. The area remains open for further drilling and continued expansion of the deposit towards the surface and the Cardiac Creek showing. The results from these two drill holes are outlined in the table below.

(*) For the purposes of weighted averages values below the detection limit were given a value half the detection limit.
(†) True width calculations are based upon a deposit orientation striking at 130 degrees and dipping at -70 degrees and are subject to revision.
(**) Previously released December 5th, 2011.

Lab results are expected for the remaining two drill holes within the next several weeks. These holes both intersected the Cardiac Creek Zone over variable widths, from 15m to 40m, and displayed varying degrees of sphalerite enrichment.

NW Extension

Drilling at the NW Extension followed up on promising proximal facies mineralization encountered in the 2010 drill program, including A-10-69 and the newly discovered Nick-style nickel-zinc rich mineralization in A-10-72. A five drill hole program (A-11-87 to A-11-91) totaling 1,708.22 metres was completed to test these discoveries.

Results have been received from 3 of the 5 holes, A-11-87 to A-11-89. These drill holes tested for the development of proximal facies mineralization in the immediate vicinity of A-10-69, both along strike and up-dip. All three drill holes intersected variable widths of proximal facies bedded pyrite mineralization. All intersections returned highly anomalous values of zinc and lead. Drill hole A-11-87 was drilled up-dip of A-10-69 and intersected 11.67 metres of proximal facies mineralization. Drill hole A-11-88, drilled along strike of A-10-69 to the southeast, intersected 14.16 metres of proximal facies mineralization and a 2.61 metre thick massive sulphide lens situated at the Gunsteel - Road River Group contact. The last hole, A-11-89, drilled along strike of A-10-69 to the northwest, intersected two thin intervals of proximal facies mineralization over 3.84 and 3.95 metres. All of the intervals above are associated with zones of zinc enrichment thicker than the observed mineralization. Hole A-11-89 also contained a thick 29.00 metre interval of distal facies mineralization consisting of laminated to bedded pyrite and nodular barite, situated at the base of the Gunsteel Formation, that returned highly anomalous zinc values ranging from <1000 ppm to 1.73% zinc and includes a 18.67 metre interval of 0.38% Zn.  The results for these drill holes are summarized in the table below.

The panel of mineralization present at the NW Extension appears to be bounded, disrupted and offset by brittle faulting along its contacts with the Gunsteel shale. In addition, a large east-west structure was discovered to form the northwest boundary of the NW Extension mineralization. At this time it appears the mineralization present at the NW Extension remains open to southeast with limited room for expansion to the northwest. Results for drill holes A-11-90 and A-11-91 are pending.

(*)True width calculations are based upon a deposit orientation striking at 130 degrees and dipping at -70 degrees and are subject to revision.

About the Akie Property

The Akie zinc-lead property is situated within the southernmost area (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 siliceous, carbonaceous, 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