Nov 20, 2017
CANADA ZINC METALS HOLE A-17-142 INTERSECTS HIGH-GRADE MINERALISATION OF 11.15% ZN+PB AND 15.5 G/T AG OVER 32.65 METRES - INCLUDING 23.32% ZN+PB AND 30.9 G/T AG OVER 11.31 METRES
Canada Zinc Metals Corp. has released the final drill results from the 2017 Akie drill program. The program focused on resource expansion and new target development on the robust and high-grade central core of the zinc-lead-silver Cardiac Creek deposit. The program commenced in June and was completed in late August using two drills. A total of eight drill holes were successfully drilled on the Cardiac Creek deposit for a total of 4,700 metres.
2017 drill result highlights:
- Drill hole A-17-142 returned an envelope of mineralization grading 11.15 per cent zinc plus lead and 15.5 grams per tonne silver over a true width of 32.65 metres, including a significant 23.32 per cent Zn plus Pb and 30.9 g/t Ag over a true width of 11.31 metres from the footwall zone.
- Drill hole A-17-143 returned 7.77 per cent Zn plus Pb and 9.8 g/t Ag over a true width of 20.49 metres, including 10.41 per cent Zn plus Pb and 15.0 g/t Ag over a true width of 7.90 metres.
Peeyush Varshney, chief executive officer of Canada Zinc Metals, commented: "We continued to be extremely pleased by the results we are seeing from the Cardiac Creek zone, both at depth and along strike to the northwest. The mineralization intersected from the footwall zone in hole 142 represents the highest-grade material ever intersected from that zone and mineralization present in hole 143 continues to expand the limits of the high-grade core into an area that has seen limited drilling. We look forward to incorporating the results from the 2017 drilling program into our models as we move into the assessment and planning phase."
A comprehensive metallurgical testing program on 2017 drill core composites has commenced at Base Metallurgical Laboratories Ltd. of Kamloops, B.C., under the direction of Tom Shouldice, PEng, principal metallurgist. The objective of the program is to assess the metallurgical performance of samples from the deposit using heavy media preconcentration followed by conventional flotation processes to recover lead and zinc into saleable concentrates. A total of 16 composites from five drill holes were prepared, totalling approximately 430 kilograms of material. The composites consist of one global composite and three composites per hole, representing the hangingwall, the main Cardiac Creek zone and the footwall zone for each intercept. The global composite will be used for the phase I program and the composites from each hole for phase II.
The program is intended to generate sufficient metallurgical data to support a preliminary economic assessment (PEA). The work will be assisted by mining and metallurgical staff at JDS Energy and Mining of Vancouver, B.C. The company is planning to proceed to a PEA after metallurgical testing is complete.
The company has engaged independent qualified person Robert Sim, PGeo, to update the mineral resource estimate for the Cardiac Creek deposit. The work is expected to be complete before the end of the year. The current resource estimate for the Cardiac Creek deposit was presented in the National Instrument 43-101 technical report dated June 28, 2016, with an effective date of May 16, 2016. The 2017 drilling program has provided eight additional intercepts into the deposit.
A-17-142
The objective of hole A-17-142 was to continue to test the large open area directly down dip of the high-grade hole A-15-121 and along strike of A-15-124 in order to expand the limits of the indicated resource. This area has seen little drilling and recent drilling (A-15-121, A-15-124 and A-17-137) has demonstrated the tremendous potential of the area. The hole experienced some deviation and a pierce point was obtained in the vicinity of A-15-124 and down dip of A-05-32.
The hole intersected a broad envelope of mineralization encompassing the Cardiac Creek zone and footwall zone extending from 616.34 metres to 655.75 metres that returned 11.15 per cent Zn plus Pb and 15.5 g/t Ag over a true width of 32.65 metres. The Cardiac Creek zone graded 7.59 per cent Zn plus Pb and 11.3 g/t Ag over a true width of 13.05 metres from 616.34 metres to 632.17 metres, and included 8.47 per cent Zn plus Pb and 14.0 g/t Ag over a true width of 7.30 metres from 623.33 metres to 632.17 metres. The footwall zone returned a high-grade interval of 23.32 per cent Zn plus Pb and 30.9 g/t Ag over a true width of 11.31 metres from 642.17 metres to 655.75 metres.
The Cardiac Creek zone is characterized by massive sulphide beds comprising very fine-grained, laminated, dull brown pyrite with an increasing amount of banded to mottle-textured sulphides enriched in light grey sphalerite, galena, quartz, carbonate and barite. The footwall zone contained approximately 85 per cent sulphides exhibiting well-developed mottled textures enriched with sphalerite, galena, quartz, carbonate and barite that were interbedded with black shale of the Gunsteel formation. A thin massive pyrite lens was intersected at a depth of 657.71 metres followed by the debris flows of the Paul River formation. The hole ended in the calcareous siltstone of the Road River group at a depth of 700.13 metres.
A-17-143
The objective of hole A-17-143 was to test the updip and northwest strike extension of the high-grade core in an open area down dip of hole A-94-11 and along strike of hole A-10-74. This area has seen limited drilling with widely spaced drill hole intersections. The drill hole deviated from its intended target but remained in an untested area providing an excellent pierce point located approximately 75 metres along strike and slightly down dip of hole A-94-11 and approximately 100 metres from hole A-10-74. The results are expected to expand the known limits of the indicated resource to the northwest and up dip.
A broad envelope of mineralization was intersected from 346.92 metres to 384.42 metres with the Cardiac Creek zone occurring from 352.64 metres to 382.95 metres grading 7.77 per cent Zn plus Pb and 9.8 g/t Ag over a true width of 20.49 metres. This included higher-grade material from 371.31 metres to 382.95 metres grading 10.41 per cent Zn plus Pb and 15.0 g/t Ag over a true width of 7.90 metres.
The Cardiac Creek zone is characterized by massive beds of dull brown pyrite, light grey sphalerite, and mottle-textured bands enriched in sphalerite, galena, quartz, carbonate and barite. The sulphides are interbedded with black shale and a few minor chert beds of the Gunsteel formation. A thin massive pyrite lens was intersected at 390.46 metres intermixed with the debris flows of the Paul River formation. The hole ended in the calcareous siltstone of the Road River group at a depth of 406.91 metres.
Significant results from A-17-142 and A-17-143 are shown in the attached table, along with the previously reported intervals from A-17-132, A-17-133, A-17-137 and A-17-138, A-17-140 and A-17-141
Quality assurance/quality control
Canada Zinc Metals has implemented a rigorous quality assurance/quality control program at the Akie property using best industry practices. All drill core is logged for geology, structure, veining, alteration, mineralization and geotechnical parameters. Sections of sulphide mineralization are marked for sampling by a geologist and a series of standards, duplicates and blanks are inserted into the sample stream for QA/QC purposes. Prior to the cutting of samples, all core boxes are photographed for due diligence and record-keeping purposes. The samples are split by a diamond saw, tagged and bagged and forwarded by bonded carrier to Acme Labs (a Bureau Veritas Group company) of Vancouver, B.C., for analysis. Documentation recording the chain of custody is kept for each shipment.
Assays for zinc, lead and silver are obtained using Acme Labs AQ270 analytical package with sample digestion using aqua regia solution followed by ICP-ES and ICP-MS analyses. Barium content is determined by Acme Labs LF300 analytical package using LiBO2/LiB4O7 fusion and ACS-grade nitric acid followed by ICP-ES analysis. Overlimit values of lead are rerun using Bureau Veritas AQ371 analytical package using a hot aqua regia solution followed by ICP-ES analyses. Overlimit values for zinc are rerun using Bureau Veritias GC816 analytical package, using a multiacid digestion, followed by hydroxide precipitation and EDTA titration analysis.
Check assays on drill pulps are routinely conducted by ALS Minerals of North Vancouver, B.C., with its OG46 analytical package using aqua regia digestion and ICP-ES analysis. All remaining drill core is stored at the Akie exploration camp.
The Akie zinc-lead-silver project
The company's 100-per-cent-owned 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 (sedimentary exhalative) 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 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.
The company has outlined a National Instrument 43-101-compliant mineral resource at Cardiac Creek, including an indicated resource of 19.6 million tonnes grading 8.2 per cent zinc, 1.6 per cent lead and 13.6 g/t silver (at a 5-per-cent-zinc cut-off grade) and an inferred resource of 8.1 million tonnes grading 6.8 per cent zinc, 1.1 per cent lead and 11.2 g/t silver (at a 5-per-cent-zinc cut-off grade).
In addition to the Akie project, the company owns 100 per cent of 10 large, contiguous property blocks that comprise the Kechika Regional project. The Kechika Regional project includes the Pie, Yuen, Cirque East and Mount 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, B.C.
Ken MacDonald, PGeo, 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.