News

Canada Zinc Metals Files Revised NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate Report for the Cardiac Creek Deposit

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada – Monday, April 30, 2012 – Canada Zinc Metals Corp. (TSX Venture Exchange: CZX) is very pleased to announce the filing of the revised NI 43-101 compliant technical report entitled “NI 43-101 Technical Report, Akie Zinc-Lead-Silver Project, British Columbia, Canada” dated April 27, 2012, with an effective date of March 14, 2012. This report is authored by Robert Sim, P.Geo., an independent qualified person for the purposes of NI 43-101, and documents the newly reconfigured mineral resource for the Cardiac Creek deposit, situated on the Company’s 100% owned Akie property and located in northwestern British Columbia, Canada.

The report updates the work done by the Company since May of 2008, the date of the previous 43-101 compliant resource calculation. The new resource results from additional surface diamond drilling completed by the Company during the period mid-2008 to the end of 2011 and further establishes the Cardiac Creek deposit as one of the premier undeveloped zinc-rich base metal projects in the world. The new resource is summarized below.

Cardiac Creek Deposit Mineral Resource

The Company has outlined a NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource 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). Using this estimate, the deposit contains 2.4 billion pounds of zinc, 472 million pounds of lead and 5.6 million ounces of silver in the indicated category, and 2.6 billion pounds of zinc, 482 million pounds of lead and 6.1 million ounces of silver in the inferred category (at 5% zinc cut-off).

Cardiac Creek Deposit: Mineral Resource Summary

⁽¹⁾ “Base case” cut-off grade of 5% Zn highlighted in table
⁽²⁾ Mineral resources are not mineral reserves as the economic viability has not been demonstrated

The deposit remains open at depth, up-dip and along strike.  Further delineation and exploration drilling is being considered using underground drilling stations located in the footwall of the deposit on the 950m elevation. All permitting and engineering designs are complete and in hand in order to commence the underground drill program.

Highlights and Recommendations of the Report

The mineral resource estimate presented in the report has been generated from drill hole sample assay results and the interpretation of a geologic model which relates to the spatial distribution of zinc, lead and silver. Interpolation characteristics have been defined based on the geology, drill hole spacing and geostatistical analysis of the data. The resources have been classified by their proximity to the sample locations and are reported, as required by NI 43-101, according to the CIM standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves. Extensive analysis of the drill sample database shows that it is sound and reliable for the purposes of resource estimation.  The resource model has been developed in accordance with accepted industry standards resulting in a mineral resource defined within the indicated and inferred categories.

The resources, presented in the Table above, are summarized for comparison purposes at a series of cut-off grades. Highlighted in the table is the “base case” cut-off grade of 5% zinc for the sulphide resource which is based on assumptions derived from operations with similar characteristics, scale and location. The report further states that the resource occurs as a relatively continuous zone which is favourable with respect to selectivity and other factors when considering mining options.  This, when combined with the results of previous geological, metal zoning and structural investigations, and the results of drilling completed to date, suggest that the Cardiac Creek deposit has economic potential sufficient to warrant additional expenditures on exploration and development. The potentially economic portion of the deposit occurs over a known strike length of 1,300 metres, extends to at least 800 metres below surface and averages about 20 metres in thickness. The deposit currently remains “open” in all directions.

The report recommends an additional surface drill program of 8 holes (3,000 meters) to be completed to infill the current base case resource (>5% zinc) to approximately 100 metre intervals, allowing at least part of the present inferred resource to also be elevated to the indicated category, and to provide more information on continuity of the Cardiac Creek zone mineralization which will be necessary in order to guide the planned underground exploration program. Continued metallurgical testing and environmental base line studies are also recommended.

Additional exploration drilling is recommended on the GPS showing and North Lead Anomaly targets present on the Akie property. These targets would involve approximately 2,000 metres of drilling in four drill holes. Mobilization activities for the 2012 drill program is expected to commence in late May-June or as snow levels permit access.

Peeyush Varshney, President and CEO of Canada Zinc Metals, states “We are extremely pleased with the upgraded resource at Cardiac Creek.  The significant increase in tonnage and the upgrade from Inferred resource to Indicated resource is another significant achievement for the Company and benchmarks the Akie property, and the district, for its significant value and exploration potential. The recommended exploration work program this year will be focused on providing the additional building blocks to advance the deposit. The Company continues to work diligently to establish the Cardiac Creek Deposit as one of the best base metal deposits being explored in the world today.”

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 mineral resource 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). 

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 historic geologic inventory in excess of 50 million tonnes (not 43-101 compliant) grading approximately 10% Zn+Pb.

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 an historic drill intercept of 8.8 metres grading 9.3% Zn+Pb, numerous zinc-lead-barite occurrences, and several large regional base metal geochemical 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