News

Canada Zinc Metals - 2013 Exploration Plans for the Akie and Kechika Regional Projects

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada – Tuesday, June 18, 2013 – Canada Zinc Metals Corp. (TSX Venture Exchange: CZX) is pleased to announce its 2013 exploration plans for 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. The Kechika Regional Project, represented by a series of property blocks including Pie and Mt. Alcock, extends northwest from the Akie property for approximately 140 kilometers covering the highly prospective Gunsteel Formation shale. The southernmost project boundary is located approximately 260 kilometers north-northwest of the town of Mackenzie, in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. 

The 2013 Exploration Program

The 2013 exploration program will have two main objectives: up to 4,000 metres of diamond drilling planned for the Akie property; and an expansion of the 2012 airborne VTEM survey that was completed over the Akie, Pie and Mt. Alcock properties.

The Akie Exploration Camp has been opened for the season and exploration crews are now mobilizing to site to commence the airborne VTEM Geophysical Survey.

The Akie Property Drill Program

Plans are now finalized for an up to 4,000 metre drilling program on the Akie property. This program will test several key targets such as the Cardiac Creek deposit, the GPS bedded barite showing, the South Zinc Anomaly and other promising property-scale targets that have been identified through careful analysis of exploration data coincident with anomaly targets from the 2012 Airborne VTEM survey.

The Cardiac Creek deposit will once again be tested with several targets along the northwest and southeast margins. These targets have been selected to demonstrate the ongoing continuity of the high grade nature within the core of the deposit as well as expanding its known limits.

The GPS bedded barite showing will be another target for this year’s drilling program. Hole A-11-100, the final drill hole from the 2011 program, attempted to test the GPS showing but was abandoned due to poor ground conditions. The GPS bedded barite showing is represented by thickly bedded massive barite mineralization hosted within a sequence of black shale interpreted as a western panel of the highly prospective Gunsteel Formation, the host rock to the Cardiac Creek and Cirque deposits. The showing is located along the western edge of the Akie property and is situated directly along strike of Teck and Korea Zinc’s Cirque deposit and the West Pie target area on the Pie property. 

Drilling is also planned to test the prominent South Zinc Anomaly, a large zinc soil anomaly situated to the southeast of the Cardiac Creek deposit along the west facing slope of Hamburger Hill. This anomaly was originally defined by Inmet Mining during the mid-1990’s and is outlined by a large 1,700 metre by 300 metre area highly anomalous in Zn and Cd with associated areas of Pb, Mn, and Fe anomalism. The South Zinc Anomaly coincides with two of the geophysical targets defined by Condor Consulting Ltd. in its  interpretation of the 2012 airborne VTEM geophysical survey conducted by Geotech Ltd.

In addition to the drilling, follow-up targeted exploration on Akie will include soil sampling and detailed mapping on several geophysical anomalies defined by the 2012 Airborne VTEM survey. One of these targets is located along strike from the GPS showing and is road accessible; and two targets are located on the eastern banks of Silver Creek covering rocks interpreted to be an eastern panel of Gunsteel Formation shale. Other work will include the assessment of previously defined soil anomalies, and re-logging and preservation of historical drill core.

Airborne VTEM Geophysical Survey

The Company plans to extend the 2012 airborne VTEM geophysical survey that covered the Akie, Pie and Mt. Alcock properties. Geotech Ltd. of Aurora, ON, has again been engaged to complete the survey which will comprise approximately 2,700 line kilometers of airborne Vertical Time Domain EM (VTEM) geophysical coverage.

The 2013 survey will be flown with nominal 200 metre line spacing over the remaining core properties on the Company’s Kechika Regional project. These properties include, from south to north, Cirque East, Yuen, Kwad, Weiss, Bear/Spa, Driftpile South, Saint and Thro.

Interpretative results generated from the 2012 VTEM data indicate an excellent correlation between the known geological and structural data and the EM conductivity response generated from the survey. The Gunsteel Formation host rock is easily identified as a conductive trend that can be traced across the Akie, Pie and Mt. Alcock properties. Areas of known mineralization such as Cardiac Creek and Mt. Alcock are located along conductive trends and exhibit elevated conductivity and depressed magnetic signatures.

The primary goal of the survey will be to obtain lithological and structural information both near surface and at depth across the remaining Kechika Regional properties, as well as define geophysical responses directly from known occurrences of mineralization.

The Akie Zn-Pb-Ag Project

The Akie property is situated within the Kechika Trough, the southernmost area of the regionally extensive Paleozoic Selwyn Basin and 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 SEDEX mineralization 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 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). 

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