Canada
Zinc Metals Receives Underground Exploration Permit from BC Government
Vancouver,
British Columbia, Canada - Friday, August 19, 2011 - Canada Zinc
Metals Corp. (TSX Venture Exchange: CZX) is pleased to announce it has received an underground
drill permit from the BC government for the Akie
project which will facilitate advanced exploration of the Cardiac Creek
deposit. The 100% owned Akie property, which includes
the Cardiac Creek SEDEX zinc-lead-silver deposit, is located approximately 260
kilometers north-northwest of the town of Mackenzie
in northeastern British
Columbia, Canada.
The
underground drill permit is valid for a period of three years and is the main
construction permit required to build the surface and underground
infrastructure required for a comprehensive diamond drill definition program on
the Cardiac Creek deposit. The underground
exploration program, as currently planned, is comprised of 1,600 metres of
underground development and 16,000 metres of underground diamond drilling
designed to upgrade the current 43-101 compliant inferred resource to the
measured and indicated category. Drill cores from underground would also be
used in a systematic metallurgical sampling program intended to ensure
metallurgical sampling across the full spectrum of the deposit. Underground
development would also provide important engineering data for future mine
design.
Work
is anticipated to commence shortly to upgrade the present road access to the
planned portal site. The Company also plans to build a small waste dump, a
settling pond and the portal pad required to support equipment required for
construction of the main decline. Diamond drilling is anticipated to commence
in 2012 after sufficient advance of the underground decline has been
achieved.
"We
are very pleased to receive this permit for our planned underground program at Akie. This is a significant milestone in the advancement of
the project as we move the Akie Project toward
feasibility," commented Mr. Peeyush Varshney, Chairman & CEO of
Canada Zinc Metals.
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 siliceous, carbonaceous, 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.