News

New Anomalies Discovered on Kechika Regional Properties

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada – Thursday, December 13, 2012 – Canada Zinc Metals Corp. (TSX Venture Exchange: CZX) is pleased to provide an update on the regional exploration program completed on the Akie and Kechika Regional projects. The Akie property is the Company’s flagship exploration project and is host to the Cardiac Creek SEDEX Zn-Pb-Ag deposit with a 43-101 compliant indicated and inferred resource recently updated in April of 2012.

The Kechika Regional Project, represented by a series of contiguous property blocks including Pie and Mt. Alcock, extends northwest from the Akie property for approximately 140 kilometres covering the prospective Gunsteel Formation shale. The Gunsteel shale is the known host to the Cardiac Creek deposit, Teck/Korea Zinc’s Cirque deposit, and numerous baritic Zn-Pb-Ag mineral occurrences along its mapped extent.

The southernmost project boundary of the Kechika Regional project is located approximately 260 kilometers north-northwest of the town of Mackenzie, in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. 

Regional Exploration Program
All analytical results have been received from the Company’s 2012 hydro-geochemistry program which was conducted on several of the Company’s properties including Akie, Pie, Mt. Alcock and Yuen.  In total, over 100 samples were collected from primary, secondary and select tertiary creeks and streams and analyzed for sulphate and metal concentrations at Acme Analytical Labs Ltd of Vancouver, British Columbia.

Akie Property:
Sampling on the Akie property focused on testing creeks that drain an area underlain by Gunsteel shale as well as the geology on the eastern side of Silver Creek. Additional samples were taken in the immediate vicinity of the GPS barite showing along the western edges of the Akie property which returned anomalous values in Zn and Pb and other pathfinder elements. A drill hole to test the GPS showing was started in late 2011 but stopped short of its intended depth due to challenging ground conditions. The GPS showing remains a high priority drill target that is located along strike from the Cirque deposit.

Silver Creek has a distinct anomalous Zn signature, with localized increases in Pb, extending from the Central Pie area down to the confluence with the Akie River. This is attributed to the large number of creeks and streams draining known Gunsteel Formation shale to the west where drilling has defined the Cardiac Creek mineralized horizon in 79 drill holes. Of considerable interest are anomalous Zn values originating from the underexplored eastern side of Silver Creek that will require further detailed field evaluation as a potential target for hosting additional Zn-Pb-Ag mineralization.

The sampling downstream of the Cardiac Creek deposit has identified a number of key elements that can be used as a geochemical signature to guide future sampling programs on the Company’s properties.

Pie Property:
Sampling on the Pie property focused on the primary, secondary and select tertiary creeks draining from the West Pie target area and the Central Pie panel of Gunsteel Formation shale. Historical drilling was centered on the Main Pie showing and on a trend towards the south eastern edge of the property. The northern end of the Central Pie area produced a distinct anomalous signature with extremely high concentration of sulphate and high conductivity readings. Additionally, this area is anomalous in Zn, Pb and other key elements. Of particular interest, barite float was found within the creeks and iron seeps were observed within tertiary creeks draining from the Gunsteel Formation shale nearby. Field measurements from follow up sampling in the area continued to record highly anomalous sulphate values and conductivity readings. This area remains untested by drilling and warrants follow up work including detailed mapping of the Gunsteel Formation shale and sampling of the iron seeps.

The West Pie target area returned moderate to anomalous values of sulphate and conductivity measurements and moderate to anomalous values of certain key pathfinder elements towards the center of the area within the interpreted Gunsteel Formation shales.

Mt. Alcock Property:
Sampling on the Mt. Alcock property focused on primary and secondary creeks draining from the Main Barite showing where the historical drilling defined a body of Zn-Pb-Ag-Ba mineralization, and the Eastern panel of Gunsteel shale which is known to host several nodular barite showings and iron seeps. Sampling from the eastern panel of Gunsteel shale returned anomalous values of Zn and moderate to elevated values of pathfinder elements. In an attempt to obtain background values for sulphate, several samples were taken immediately to the east from creeks draining geology interpreted to be from the Road River Group of rocks that typically underlie the Gunsteel Formation shale. However, these creeks unexpectedly returned anomalous concentrations in sulphate. Follow up sampling in these drainages continued to demonstrate anomalous sulphate and Zn values and will require follow up work to reassess the geology and determine the possible source(s) of this anomalism.

Limited historical drilling on the Main Barite showing in 1989 intersected 8.8 metres grading 9.3 % combined Zn+Pb and 1.2 opt Ag in drill hole 89-3. Drill hole 89-9 returned the widest intercept, with 10.5 metres grading 6.8 % combined Zn+Pb and 0.7 opt Ag. This area is a high priority target for follow-up in 2013.

Future sampling programs on the Akie, Pie and Mt. Alcock properties will focus on tertiary drainages in order to pinpoint the source of the sulphate and elemental anomalies, and the presence of possible Zn-Pb-Ag mineralization.

Airborne Geophysical Survey
The Company is in receipt of Geotech Ltd.’s final report on the recent 1,526 line kilometre airborne Vertical Time Domain EM (VTEM) geophysical survey flown over the Akie, Pie and Mt. Alcock properties. The report is currently under review, however a preliminary examination of the geophysical data indicates a very good correlation between the known geology and the geophysical response. A number of key geological units appear to have been well defined by the survey, including the Gunsteel shale and what are interpreted to be thrust repeat panels of the Gunsteel shale. Detailed mapping in these areas will be required to confirm the preliminary interpretation. These areas have been previously mapped by government survey as older rock units.

A detailed analysis of the VTEM geophysical data in currently underway by Condor Consulting Inc., recognized experts in the field of airborne electromagnetics. Condor’s final report regarding the significance of the survey is expected in late December.

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.

 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