Canada Zinc Metals Receives Results for the 2015 Exploration Program on the Company’s Pie Option Properties

Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCwire) - Canada Zinc Metals Corp. (“Canada Zinc Metals” or “the Company”, TSX Venture Exchange: CZX) is pleased to announce the Company has been provided a Technical Report by Teck Resources Ltd. (“Teck” TSX:TCK.B) that summarizes the results from the Year Two program on the optioned Pie-Yuen-Cirque East properties.

The Company owns 100% of eleven large, contiguous property blocks that comprise the Akie and Kechika Regional projects. The Company’s flagship Akie Project is host to the Cardiac Creek deposit and remains the primary corporate focus. The Kechika Regional Project, which includes the Pie, Yuen and Cirque East properties, extends northwest from the Akie property for approximately 140 kilometres along the strike of the highly prospective Gunsteel Formation shale; the main host rock for known SEDEX zinc-lead-silver deposits in the Kechika Trough. These projects are located approximately 260 kilometres north northwest of the town of Mackenzie, British Columbia, Canada.

The Company believes the generative portfolio of Kechika Regional properties offer shareholders and investment partners significant opportunities for exposure to new discoveries in the Kechika Trough.

Pie Option Properties

The Pie, Yuen and Cirque East properties (Pie Option properties) are the subject of an option agreement concluded on September 9, 2013 with Teck and its JV partner, Korea Zinc Co., Ltd. ("Korea Zinc" KRX:KorZinc 010130). The option agreement would see Teck and Korea Zinc spend up to $8.5 million to acquire up to 70% interest in the Pie Option properties.

Teck and Korea Zinc have spent approximately $1.3 million in exploration expenditures over two field seasons on the Pie Option properties utilizing an integrated approach to exploration to maximize the potential for discovery. By incurring an additional $2.2 million in exploration expenditures by the end of 2017, Teck and Korea Zinc would conclude the “First Option” of the agreement and earn an undivided 51% interest in the Pie Option properties. Upon exercising the First Option, Teck/Korea Zinc would have an additional option (the "Second Option") to acquire a further 19% interest in the properties for a total of 70%, by incurring an additional $5.0 million in exploration expenditures by the end of 2019.

The Pie Option properties surround Teck/Korea Zinc’s jointly owned Cirque deposit to the north and east, and provide extensive coverage of the highly prospective Gunsteel Formation shale. The properties comprise 58 contiguous mineral claims covering an area of 17,679 hectares and have been explored intermittently over the past thirty years. Historical drilling totals 29 diamond drill holes for 8,097.4 metres, with 6,636.3 metres drilled on Pie, and 1,461.0 metres drilled on Yuen. There is no record of historical drilling on the Cirque East claims.

Historical Exploration^*

The Pie property hosts a number of mineral showings which display two different styles of mineralization as identified by Teck:

a)  stratiform bedded barite and baritic shale with variably developed pyritic laminations and associated Zn-Pb sulphides in two continuous zones, which underlie the Pie Main and Del Creek area

b)  quartz-barite + Zn-Pb ± Cu vein/stockwork mineralization in variably silicified limestone and shale, prominently at Pie Main, Pie Breccia and Pie East showings 

Two areas of the central Pie property were drill tested in the past: the Pie main showing where ten historical diamond drill holes were completed on and along the trend of subcropping massive galena mineralization, and twelve diamond drill holes on the southern extent of the Pie Main zone, along strike from known mineralization from the Fluke property (located south of the Del Creek valley and jointly owned by Teck/Korea Zinc).

Historical drilling at Pie has intersected significant widths of nodular to bedded barite and nodular to disseminated pyrite typical of SEDEX Zn-Pb-Ag mineralization. Drill Hole P-06-07 intersected extensive intervals of laminated pyrite and nodular barite over its entire length and selective sampling by the operator of the day returned up to 0.8% Zn and up to 15.1 g/t Ag over narrow intervals. Drilling along strike of P-06-07 to the NW and SE continued to intersect significant intervals of laminated pyrite and nodular barite. The best intercept in historical drilling at Pie was in 80-1 with vein-hosted mineralization returning 2.0 metres (apparent width) of 2.93% zinc from a depth of 46.1 metres. High zinc grades were returned in channel samples from the Pie Breccia showing, with up to 27.8% Zn and 4.8% Pb. The Pie Breccia showing remains untested by drilling.

Historical exploration on the Yuen property since 1979 has focused on several target areas, including China Ridge and Noel Creek, where soil surveys outlined large Ba-Pb-Ag anomalies worthy of follow-up. Limited drilling was completed on the property with only seven widely-spaced drill holes totaling over 1,400 metres that tested select soil anomaly targets. Elevated zinc and lead values were returned from large intervals of nodular to laminated barite and pyrite in Gunsteel shale, a similar setting to the distal facies found stratigraphically above the Cardiac Creek deposit. Very little historic work has occurred on the property since 1982 apart from a short reconnaissance program in 1994 and two drill holes in 2006, one of which was terminated early due to onset of winter.

The prospective Gunsteel Formation shale on the Cirque East property represents the strike extension of the same central panel that hosts the Cardiac Creek deposit, the Pie showings and Teck and Korea Zinc’s Elf and Fluke prospects. Limited work during the early 1980’s included mapping and some targeted soil sampling that identified Zn, Pb and Ba anomalies in the Gunsteel Formation shale and the underlying Kwadacha reef limestone.

2015 Exploration Program

The 2015 exploration program focused on drill target definition and included airborne and ground geophysics, rock and soil geochemistry, re-logging and sampling of historical drill core, and geological mapping. Exploration activities were based out of the Cirque exploration camp located approximately 22 kilometres northwest of the Company’s flagship Akie property. The field program was completed between July and September and included geological mapping and rock sampling, soil sampling and reconnaissance ground gravity surveys over target areas on the Pie and Yuen properties. A total of five high priority areas were selected for more detailed assessment in 2015: Noel Creek and China Ridge on the Yuen property; and Pie Main-Pie Breccia, Pie West and Del Creek on the Pie property.

An Airborne Gravity Gradiometry (AGG) survey was completed by CGG Canada Services Ltd. (CGG) in February 2015 and totaled 874 line kilometres, at a nominal line spacing of 200 meters over the entire prospective area of the Pie Option properties. The objective of the AGG survey was to evaluate a large area and identify potential direct exploration targets in conjunction with other geophysical, geological and geochemical datasets.

The overall 2015 work program was designed to advance known and potential drill targets to a drill-ready stage by combining earlier work, including the 2013 Versatile Time Domain Electromagnetic (VTEM) survey, with results of the 2015 AGG survey. Prioritization of targets was determined through a ranking exercise integrating a variety of parameters, including alteration, mineralization, host stratigraphy, historical drill core, airborne/ground geophysics, stream sediment samples, etc.

Results of the field and geophysical program include:

• Geological mapping at a scale of 1:10,000 was completed; allowing for creation of a consistent geological map base by which to interpret all historical and modern geological and geophysical data, including the VTEM and AGG datasets.

• A total of 22 geological/prospecting traverses covering approximately 23 kilometres were completed on key priority target areas on the Pie and Yuen properties to better understand the regional and local structural architecture of the basin; distribution of lithofacies (including the Earn Group rocks which host the Gunsteel Formation); and fold style and distribution of panel bounding regional thrusts.

• In addition, prospecting was completed on known mineralized showings and potentially prospective target areas of interest for development work in 2016.

• Geochemistry sampling included 227 whole-rock lithogeochemistry samples and 552 portable XRF (pXRF) samples collected during mapping. These geochemical data were used to characterize the lithogeochemistry of prospective stratigraphy, refine historic mapping, and to identify possible vectors to mineralization.

• The results of 24 infill soil geochemistry lines at Pie and Yuen (total of 423 soil samples) were used to validate historical data, to refine geochemical vectoring tools, and to generate new targets on the properties.

• Re-logging and pXRF analysis  of drill core from three historical diamond drill holes provided additional lithogeochemical data to geochemically characterize the Earn Group lithologies, particularly the Gunsteel Formation shale.

• Initial analysis and interpretation of AGG survey data and correlation of AGG results with historical and current geological, geochemical and geophysical data sets to generate and refine drill targets.

• Ground gravity surveys were conducted along 5 lines over 4 AGG target anomalies at Del Creek, Pie West, Noel Creek, and Yuen North.

An integrated targeting approach was used to rank priorities area with the best potential to host Zn-Pb-Ag mineralization within the Earn Group. The target ranking scheme will serve as a framework for future exploration and ongoing drill target development. The top five targets developed from the ranking exercises are: Pie Main-Breccia, Noel Creek, China Ridge, Pie West and Del Creek.

Additional new developments include:

• Formal recognition of four major thrust panels supporting previous interpretations of classic fold and thrust morphology with southwest-dipping thrust faults and southwest-dipping strata.

• The China Ridge and Pie West high priority target areas are located on the Cirque Panel 1 (north and south, respectively, along strike of the significant North and South Cirque deposits).

• The Noel, Pie Main-Breccia and Del Creek high priority areas are located on the Akie panel (north and south, respectively, along strike of the Akie deposit).

• Re-logging of historical Yuen drill core has confirmed the presence of Gunsteel Formation in two of three drill holes; and elevated element geochemistry from YN-93-03 and Y-06-01 suggest distal mineralization may be present in the target areas.

• A new, large (2.2 km by 0.5 km) Pb, Zn (and other pathfinder elements) anomaly identified at China Ridge on the Yuen property will be a priority area for target development work and possible drill testing in 2016. The anomaly is on-strike to the northwest of historic soil anomalies and is a coherent, NW-SE trending multi-element anomaly with anomalous Pb values that range from >101 ppm to a maximum of 270.3 ppm and coincident Zn values that range from >870 ppm to a maximum of 6,268 ppm. The anomaly remains open to the northwest and additional soil lines are recommended to determine the anomaly’s extent.

Review of preliminary processed AGG data by Teck reveals a set of geophysical anomalies which are either spatially coincident with priority prospects defined by Canada Zinc Metals in earlier work, or outline new potential targets. Significant results include the identification of coincident soil geochemistry and AGG anomalies within an untested strike extension of interpreted Gunsteel and Akie stratigraphy at the Yuen South target area located approximately 8 kilometres northwest of the North Cirque deposit.

The AGG survey also detected several high amplitude anomalies with the potential to represent zones of mineralization which led to the identification of the significant new soil anomaly at China Ridge - Yuen North highlighted above. One ground gravity line was completed over the stronger AGG anomaly. Further data processing and interpretation of both airborne and ground gravity datasets is ongoing and results are anticipated from Teck in a later addendum report upon conclusion. The AGG data will be integrated by Teck with the companies’ existing exploration data to plan the next phase of exploration.

2016 Exploration Program

In 2016, an exploration program is being considered to continue target development through evaluation of airborne AGG/VTEM survey data and collection of additional ground gravity and lithogeochemical data to define drill-ready targets. Further internal processing and interpretation of both airborne and ground gravity datasets is ongoing and will assist with planning for 2016. Additional work could include more extensive surface mapping, prospecting, further definition of soil anomalies, additional ground gravity surveys, and drill-testing of top priority targets. A new, large (2.2 by 0.5 km) Pb, Zn, Ag and Hg anomaly identified at China Ridge-Yuen North will be a priority area for target development work.

Mr. Ken MacDonald, VP Exploration of  the Company, commented, "We are very pleased with the sound and aggressive exploration progress that Teck has made on the Pie Option properties. We look forward to the next key exploration milestones which will include drill testing on the highest priority targets.” 

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, 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-silver SEDEX mineralisation 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

^* Strate, T., 2012, NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Pie Property, Report prepared for Canada Zinc Metals Corp., Vancouver, BC, May 4, 2012, 269p.

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