Canada Zinc Metals Commences the 2017 Drill Program at Akie

Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCwire) - Canada Zinc Metals Corp. (TSX Venture Exchange: CZX) is pleased to announce that drilling has commenced on the Akie Project. The Company is now executing on its planned diamond drilling program that will focus on resource expansion, metallurgical sampling and new target development. This program will build on the success of earlier drill programs that have outlined a robust and high-grade zinc-lead-silver system in the central core of the Cardiac Creek deposit.

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. The Kechika Regional Project includes the Pie, Yuen, Cirque East and Mt. Alcock properties extending northwest from the Akie property for approximately 140 kilometres along strike of 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.

Drill Objective - Infill & Metallurgical Targeting

The Company has mobilized two drills to the property. One drill will be focused on the task of drilling metallurgical test holes in the core of the deposit. The HQ core will be split with half core sent to an assay lab for conventional geochemical sampling and the remaining half core sent to a lab for focused metallurgical testing. The metallurgical testing will target open areas (i.e. infill) within the high-grade core of the Cardiac Creek deposit that have been selected to provide representative material. Previously reported results from the high-grade core include 12.98 metres of 17.06% combined Zn+Pb and 28.98 g/t Ag in A-15-121; and 11.09 metres of 17.20% combined Zn+Pb and 26.43 g/t Ag in A-15-124. The purpose of the metallurgical testing is to support the advancement of the project to the Preliminary Economic Assessment stage.

Drill Objective - Expansion Targets

The second drill will focus additional drilling on the expansion of the indicated resource. Targets have been selected to test and expand the indicated resource both down-dip in the vicinity of high-grade holes such as A-15-121 and A-15-124 (results above) and along strike to the northwest in the vicinity of A-13-107; which returned 7.24 metres of 13.88% combined Zn+Pb and 14.39 g/t Ag, and A-06-38 which returned 11.76 metres of combined 10.67% Zn+Pb and 16.57 g/t Ag (previously reported).  

Subject to schedule and budget there may also be an opportunity to expand the down-dip extents of the deposit which are still not fully defined. Historical drilling by a previous operator in 1995 completed two widely-spaced drill holes (A-95-17 and A-95-19) along the extreme northwestern edge of the deposit. Additional drilling would target the down-dip extents of the deposit with an approximate spacing of 300 metres from the nearest intercepts. This is a new area of exploration on the deposit and overall expansion of the deposit at depth would be the primary objective.

Other exploration targets on the Akie property are also being considered for drilling in 2017.  These would include the North Lead Zone (previous drilling intersected extensive intervals of highly anomalous zinc); the South Zinc Soil Anomaly (large ~2 kilometre by 500 metre zinc-in-soil anomaly); and the Sitka Showing located on the eastern edge of the Akie property, characterized by a thick barite sequence hosting disseminated coarse-grained galena and sphalerite.

Drilling commenced on June 28 and the program is expected to be completed by September. Drilling services are provided by Western Exploration Drilling of Kamloops, British Columbia.  

Peeyush Varshney, President and CEO of the Company, states: "With the fundamental shift to a deficit scenario in the zinc space we are pleased to have multiple drills turning once again on Akie property. This year’s drilling will provide important metallurgical information and allow us to evaluate the economics of the deposit. The expansion drilling provides us the opportunity to grow the indicated resource and possibly also drill in an area that has not been fully tested historically.”

The Akie Zn-Pb-Ag Project

The Company’s flagship 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 19.6 million tonnes grading 8.2% zinc, 1.6% lead and 13.6 g/t silver (at a 5% zinc cut-off grade) and an inferred resource of 8.1 million tonnes grading 6.8% zinc, 1.1% lead and 11.2 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

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