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Canada Zinc Metals Announces Agreement with First Nations

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada – Monday, August 19, 2013 – Canada Zinc Metals Corp. (TSX Venture Exchange: CZX) is pleased to announce that the Company has formally signed a tripartite Exploration Cooperation and Benefit Agreement with the Kwadacha First Nation and the Tsay Keh Dene First Nation. The agreement covers all exploration and related activities on the Akie property which is a shared area within the respective traditional lands of the Tsay Keh Dene and Kwadacha First Nations, the two communities closest to the Akie property.

The Akie property is the Company’s flagship exploration project and is host to the Cardiac Creek SEDEX Zn-Pb-Ag deposit. The southernmost project boundary is located approximately 260 kilometers north-northwest of the town of Mackenzie, in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. 

Exploration Cooperation and Benefit Agreement

Since 2006, Canada Zinc Metals has consistently consulted with both First Nations and provided economic benefits to both communities through community funding, employment and direct engagement of contractors.

The general purpose of the agreement is to enhance understanding and cooperation between the First Nations and the Company regarding the exploration programs and contribute to the programs’ overall success. The agreement is also designed to mitigate any effects of the exploration programs on the traditional lands of the First Nations and foster a relationship based on mutual respect, trust, mutual benefit and certainty for all parties.

The Agreement ensures that Canada Zinc Metals will continue to provide both communities with opportunities to give meaningful input into such aspects as exploration permitting and environmental studies, with the goal to ensure exploration activities minimize impacts to First Nations’ environmental values, heritage values, and traditional activities.

The agreement sets out a framework for employment and training, contracting and business opportunities for members of the two First Nations, and funding for community development and participation and engagement.

In return, Canada Zinc Metals has a greater measure of certainty with respect to ongoing exploration on the Akie Property and the support of both communities as the project advances.

"We are very pleased to have reached this important milestone in our relationship with the Kwadacha and Tsay Keh Dene First Nations", commented Peeyush Varshney, President & CEO of Canada Zinc Metals Corp. "Since the onset of exploration in 2006 on the Akie property we have strived to maintain a mutually beneficial and respectful relationship with both communities. We have been able to provide economic opportunities for the community through funding and for band members and contractors through direct employment, and in return the communities have supported our exploration endeavors, including providing letters of support for exploration permits. We have participated in community functions in both communities and have witnessed the importance of economic development. It has been very important to us from the outset of exploration on the property that local communities support our endeavors."

About Tsay Keh Dene First Nation

The main community of Tsay Keh Dene is located at the north end of Williston Reservoir approximately 215 km north of Mackenzie, BC. The village lies just south of where the Finlay River flows into the north end of Williston Reservoir, in the Rocky Mountain Trench. The main community is approximately 51 km southwest of the Akie property.  The population of the Tsay Keh Dene Nation is about 450 persons.

About Kwadacha First Nation

The Kwadacha First Nation is located at Fort Ware, approximately 280 km north of Mackenzie, BC. The village lies at the confluence of the Fox, the Kwadacha, and Finlay rivers in the Rocky Mountain Trench. The community is about 45 km northwest of the Akie property. The population of the Kwadacha First Nation is over 500 persons.

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 barite-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