News

Summary of Results: 2009 Akie Property and Kechika Regional Exploration Programs - Sample grades up to 27.81% Zn and indications of Cu, Ni, Co and Mo

Vancouver, B.C. – December 21, 2009 – Canada Zinc Metals Corp. (TSX Venture : CZX ; Frankfurt: A0RAQJ) (“Canada Zinc Metals” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide the following summary of results from  the 2009 exploration program carried out on the Akie property and certain of the Kechika Regional properties this past season.  The Properties, all owned 100% by the Company, are centered approximately 260 kilometers north-northwest of the town of Mackenzie in northeastern British Columbia.

The objective of the 2009 exploration program was two-fold, to complete detailed mapping and sampling in the vicinity of two strong, very large soil geochemical anomalies on the Akie property, referred to as the “North Lead Anomaly” and “South Zinc Anomaly”, and to identify new mineralized targets within three of the Kechika Regional properties (Pie, Yuen Extension, Yuen) that extend some 30 km northwest of Akie and overlie highly prospective Gunsteel formation rocks.

Key Point Summary:

• Important stratigraphic contact identified at North Lead Anomaly, Akie property
• Bedded barite with silicification, laminated pyrite, iron seep discovered  in west Pie property
• Basal part of black silica veins containing sphalerite, discovered at shale/limestone contact in central Pie property, yielded average grade of over 10% zinc (highest individual sample grade of 27.81% zinc, 0.02% lead)
• Central Pie property zinc mineralization was also accompanied by copper values up to 2,172 ppm
• Four soil samples from extensive iron seep in east Pie property returned >10,000 ppm zinc, to 9,711 ppm nickel, to 1,384 ppm cobalt, to 623 ppm molybdenum

Akie Property

The work performed on the Akie property in 2009 was focused largely on detailed geologic mapping in a 2.5 km long panel in the general vicinity of the North Lead Anomaly (70 to 624 ppm lead; 200 meters wide by 1,000 metres long) located at the northern end of the property. This additional mapping has provided important information on the distribution of geological units in this highly prospective area, including identification of carbonate outcrops which, along with a nearby iron seep, indicate proximity to a shale (Gunsteel)-carbonate contact, a key stratigraphic marker horizon. The zinc-lead mineralization in both the Cardiac Creek deposit and the North Lead Anomaly occurs in Gunsteel shale at, or close to, the contact with carbonate rocks.

The North Lead Anomaly, located some 2.3 km northwest of the nearest drill hole to penetrate the Cardiac Creek deposit, is considered to be the highest priority target on the Akie property due to the mineralization encountered in a 1996 drill hole (Inmet; 11.60% zinc and 9.05% lead over an interval of 0.80 metre) within a geologic environment identical to that at Cardiac Creek.  The mineralization, hosted by Gunsteel shale, is stratigraphically immediately above a debris flow in which the fragments and matrix have been replaced by pyrite, sphalerite and galena. This feature, combined with the presence of quartz-carbonate alteration in footwall rocks beneath the debris flow and widespread high lead/zinc ratios in samples of the overlying soil, are supportive of the presence of a hydrothermal feeder zone/vent complex in the area. Worldwide, SEDEX mineralizing centers such as this exhibit higher grade mineralization at the transition between the vent complex and the laterally extensive bedded ore facies.

A small program of prospecting and silt sampling  was carried out in the southeast corner of the Akie property to follow-up a highly anomalous (18,500 ppm zinc, 100 ppm lead) silt sample collected   by a previous operator (1978) at the southeast end of the South Zinc Anomaly (+2,000 ppm zinc; 200 to 500 metres wide by 2 km long).  The work yielded anomalous (to >3,000 ppm) zinc values from silts from four widely spaced creeks in the area, confirming the earlier result. The South Zinc Anomaly, which is underlain by Gunsteel formation/ Pinstripe shale, remains as a high priority exploration target.

Kechika Regional Program

Exploration on the Pie property, located immediately northwest of the Akie property, resulted in identification of two new, significant mineral occurrences and two distinct geochemical targets.

In the western part of the property, in an area on strike from the large Cirque SEDEX zinc-lead deposit (located some 18.5 km to the northwest) and underlain by black shales (Gunsteel formation) similar to those hosting this deposit, prospecting has identified a 70 metre long by 1.5 metre thick occurrence of bedded barite that is associated iron seeps, silicification and a nearby outcrop of laminated pyrite (collectively referred to as the GPS Showing), all features consistent with  SEDEX deposits.  In addition, approximately 7 km to the northwest, anomalous zinc values have been obtained from a 1 km long cluster of six silt (>3,000ppm), soil (>3,000ppm) and rock samples (>1,000ppm) in a area underlain by the same Gunsteel rocks.

Prospecting in the central part of the Pie property has resulted in discovery of two outcrops, some 75 metres apart, hosting very distinctive veins of coarse grained, medium brown sphalerite, lesser galena, comb-structure quartz crystals, and very large (to +10 cm long) lath-like crystals of white barite within a hard, black, “sugary” siliceous matrix ( Black Silica Veins - “Breccia” Showing in previous news releases). Locally, the veins exhibit a breccia texture comprising vuggy, angular fragments, to +6 cm across, of white quartz, carbonate and sphalerite in a similar  black matrix.  These veins occur within limestone or at the contact between black shales and limestone and range in thickness from 30 cm to +1 metre. Channel sampling (1 metre samples on 7 lines up to 5 metres long and approximately 1 to 2 metres apart) along the strike of the basal part of the vein exposed in the largest of the two outcrops has yielded an average zinc grade of 10.19%, with a little lead (highest individual sample grade – 27.81% zinc, 0.02% lead).  Analytical data also indicate that the zinc mineralization is accompanied by copper values, up to 2,172 ppm. This general area of the Pie claims is characterized by the presence of numerous occurrences of galena, sphalerite and/or barite in either carbonate or in the immediate vicinity of the contact between carbonate and black shales. It is possible that the veins could be associated with a nearby, but as yet unrecognized, vent complex or feeder zone.

Soil and rock sampling in an area of extensive iron seeps and gossan development in the eastern part of the Pie property, approximately 4 km to the southeast of the aforementioned black silica veins, has returned highly anomalous values of zinc and other metals, the maximums (minimums) reported being >10,000 ppm (5,718) zinc, 9,711 ppm (1442) nickel, 1,384 ppm (66.3) cobalt, 623 ppm (82.98) molybdenum and >10,000 ppm (2,437) manganese. These oxidized features can be traced for several kilometers; field evidence suggests that the underlying rocks may be limestone, which elsewhere in the this area has been noted to host local sphalerite and galena mineralization in veinlets and fractures, or nearby black shales.   

“We are very excited by what our exploration team has uncovered during this year’s exploration program,” commented Peeyush Varshney, CEO of Canada Zinc Metals.  “We have always believed that additional discoveries on trend from the Cardiac Creek deposit would be made and these very encouraging results further confirm this potential.   We look forward to providing details of the 2010 work program in the near future.”

About the Akie and Kechika Regional Properties

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 variably siliceous, 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.

All of the company’s claims (77,889 Ha), with the exception of a small isolated block (2,293 Ha), are in good standing, under the provisions of the Mineral Tenure Act of British Columbia, until December 8, 2018.

Qualified Person

John R. Fraser, P.Geo. (B.C.), Vice President of Exploration and a Director of Canada Zinc Metals is the Qualified Person for the Company, as defined by NI 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

PRESIDENT & CEO