News

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada – Thursday, March 15, 2018 – Canada Zinc Metals Corp. (“Canada Zinc Metals” or “the Company”, TSX Venture Exchange: CZX) is pleased to announce that it has formally engaged JDS Energy & Mining Inc. ("JDS") of Vancouver, British Columbia, to conduct a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") of its 100% owned zinc-lead-silver Cardiac Creek deposit located on the Akie property in northeast British Columbia.

JDS is widely regarded as a leader in mine project engineering and economic assessments, both in Canada and abroad. JDS has completed assessments for similar zinc projects in several Canadian jurisdictions, including British Columbia, N.W.T. and the Yukon Territory.

JDS, through its affiliate JDS Silver, also acted as the EPCM contractor for the newly constructed Silvertip silver-lead-zinc mine in northern British Columbia, which was sold to Coeur Mining in October 2017.

JDS had previously worked with the Company in 2017 developing a high-level assessment of the Akie Project. JDS will now build on the past work by incorporating new metallurgical test results and the recently updated NI 43-101 resource announced for the Cardiac Creek deposit in January 2018.

The PEA study will focus on practical, fit-for-purpose solutions that will maximize the value of the project. JDS anticipates completing the PEA in late May 2018 and will subsequently file a technical report based on National Instrument (NI) 43-101 guidelines and Canadian Institute of Mining (CIM) best practices. The PEA will provide a solid project evaluation to be used by management to establish the approximate value and outline the key decision points for the future development of the project.  

The PEA report will be authored by JDS in collaboration with a number of other specialized and experienced consulting and advisory firms in the area of tailings disposal, metallurgy, environmental science and geology. JDS has previously completed a site visit during the 2017 drilling campaign.

The Akie Zn-Pb-Ag Project

The 100% owned 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.

With additional drilling completed in 2017, the Company has updated the estimate of mineral resources at Cardiac Creek, as follows:

In addition to the Akie Project, the Company owns 100% of eight of eleven large, contiguous property blocks that comprise the Kechika Regional Project including the advanced Mt. Alcock prospect. The Kechika Regional Project also includes the Pie, Yuen and Cirque East properties within which the Company maintains a significant 49% interest with partners Teck Resources Limited (TSX: TECK.B) and Korea Zinc Co. Ltd. These properties collectively extend northwest from the Akie property for approximately 140 kilometres covering the highly prospective Gunsteel Formation shale; the main host rock for known SEDEX zinc-lead-silver deposits in the Kechika Trough of northeastern British Columbia. These projects are located approximately 260 kilometres north northwest of the town of Mackenzie, British Columbia, Canada.

Ken MacDonald P.Geo., Vice President of Exploration for the Company, 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