Canadian Zinc Corporation (TSX:CZN)(OTCQB:CZICF) ("the Company" or
"Canadian Zinc") is pleased to report results from the 2012
Exploration Program at the Company's 100% owned Prairie Creek
Minesite property in the Northwest Territories.
The results include assays from drillhole PC-12-216 which
returned a grade of 2,059 g/t silver (or 60 oz./ton silver) over
1.3 metres and is the highest grade silver intercept ever reported
from the property. In addition, a significant coincident
electromagnetic ("EM") and gravity geophysical anomaly was
delineated proximal to the Prairie Creek Minesite property.
Diamond Drill Exploration Program
The 2012 diamond drilling program at Prairie Creek completed
5,629 m of coring in 12 holes. Exploration focused on two areas: at
the Minesite area, where further shallow testing and extension of
the current resources was completed, and at.Casket Creek where the
deep-hole program continued from the previous year.
Alan Taylor, Vice President Exploration and Chief Operating
Officer commented that "The 2012 drill program close to the Prairie
Creek Minesite was designed to fill in a number of open areas and
also to test for extensions of the known resource and the drill
results continued to confirm the grade and extent of the deposit.
Drillhole PC-12-216, with an intercept of 1.3 metres grading 2059
g/t or 60 oz./ton Ag, returned the highest grades of silver ever
reported from a drillhole on the Prairie Creek property",
"The delineation of a new strong coincident EM and gravity
geophysical anomaly approximately one kilometre from the Minesite
is particularly encouraging and testing this anomaly will be a high
priority of the 2013 exploration program" added Mr. Taylor.
Minesite Area Drill Program
Infill drilling focused close to the Minesite and within the
defined resource was carried out with the Company's Longyear #1
drill rig. Drilling commenced in June 2012 and was completed in
September. Most of these holes were drilled at depth and along
strike in the proximity of the known underground workings. Targeted
areas included locations that have the potential to be upgraded
from the inferred category to the indicated resource category. A
total of 3,366 metres over nine holes were drilled, with seven
holes completed to target in 2012, six of which intersected
significant mineralization and many with multiple intercepts.
Drillhole PC-12-216 returned the highest grades of silver ever
reported from a drillhole on the Prairie Creek property with an
intercept of 1.3 metres grading 2059 g/t or 60 oz./ton Ag. The same
hole also returned a combined grade of 51.3% lead+ zinc over a
different intercept of 1.0 metres. Many other intercepts returned
multi-ounce silver assays with high lead and zinc values, with Hole
PC-12-214 reporting double intercepts of 44% and 23% combined
lead+zinc, and Hole PC-12-215 also reporting double intercepts of
43% and 16.2% combined lead+zinc Results are now being incorporated
into the mine model and assessed for future exploration planning.
Significant results are as follows:
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Minerali
zation
Length style
Hole ID From (m) To (m) (m)(i) (i) Pb (%) Zn (%) Ag (g/t) Cu (%)
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PC-12-217 459.50 460.50 1.00 STK 4.43 15.60 60 0.08
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463.60 465.60 2.00 STK 9.09 10.68 141 0.31
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469.90 470.90 1.00 STK 0.03 6.42 2 0.01
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473.10 474.10 1.00 STK 0.00 12.00 4 0.02
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475.95 476.95 1.00 STK 1.69 5.22 33 0.07
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PC-12-216 418.28 419.59 1.31 STK 4.02 10.30 2059 9.37
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431.90 438.00 6.10 STK 2.04 6.12 19 0.03
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447.14 448.14 1.00 STK 31.10 20.20 184 0.56
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PC-12-215 507.34 508.34 1.00 STK 1.35 2.88 126 0.27
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517.20 518.46 1.26 STK 0.86 18.48 16 0.04
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527.55 528.05 0.50 STK 3.83 2.08 82 0.20
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575.59 576.34 0.75 STK 14.02 1.40 103 0.03
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578.51 579.35 0.84 STK 36.90 6.30 268 0.04
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PC-12-214 129.06 130.45 1.39 S 0.13 10.70 2 0.00
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152.84 153.74 0.90 S 9.07 19.50 TBD 0.45
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191.00 191.60 0.60 S 13.88 30.17 4 0.69
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305.00 306.80 1.80 MQV 18.67 4.61 TBD 0.22
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PC-12-212 210.43 214.26 3.83 SMS 4.20 10.65 28 0.02
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217.77 219.94 2.17 SMS 3.10 1.43 20 0.00
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PC-12-211 215.62 216.39 0.77 MQV 3.87 4.66 47 0.13
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-- Mineralization styles are defined as mineralized quartz vein (MQV),
stratabound massive sulphides (SMS), stockwork (STK), or sulphides (S).
-- Drill intercepts are not true widths
The Company's Longyear #2 drill rig was rehabilitated during
2012 and used as a training drill on one short hole.
Casket Creek Deep-Hole Program
The deep-hole diamond drill exploration program at Casket Creek,
1.6 kilometres north of the current mineral resource, utilized the
Company's TM-2500 coring rig. Following encouraging results from
this area in 2011, drilling at Casket Creek commenced in May 2012
to search below PC-11-187W2, which intersected 5% Pb and 11% Zn
over 3.5 metres. A total of 2,182 metres over two drillholes (with
wedging) was completed. Assay results for the 2012 deep drill
program are as follows:
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Length
Hole From (m) To (m) (m)(i) Pb (%) Zn (%) Ag (g/t) Cu (%)
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PC-12-206 1763.14 1764.04 0.90 4.23 2.97 31.4 0.001
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PC-12-206 1831.90 1832.74 0.84 0.26 0.11 31.9 0.148
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-- Drill intercepts are not true widths
The drill core confirmed stratigraphy and contained a number of
significant structural zones that are weakly mineralized and likely
correlate with the previous years' intercept. A third hole,
PC-12-213 was halted due to drilling difficulties within a
significant fault structure, believed to be the main structural
target. After completing this phase of drilling at Casket Creek the
drill rig was moved back to the Prairie Creek Minesite for
maintenance and winter storage. Further exploration work in this
area is being planned for 2013.
Geophysical Program
A geophysical program involving surface and downhole EM and
surface gravity surveys was completed in the proximity of the Mine
in August 2012. Geophysical surveys at Prairie Creek are somewhat
impeded by mountainous terrain, variable amounts of conductive
background minerals, and unknown electrical conductivity
properties. The last previous geophysical survey was conducted at
Prairie Creek in 1995. A short geophysical exploration program was
designed in 2012 to test the applicability of modern geophysical
survey techniques on the property. A ground-based approach was
selected in order to maximize survey sensitivity.
The results define a strong multi-channel EM anomaly located
approximately one kilometre from the Minesite, located outside but
adjacent to the defined mineral resource. A coincident gravity
anomaly was also identified over the same area by a loose-grid
gravity survey. This multi-stacked geophysical anomaly has an
estimated depth to the source between 200 and 450 metres below
surface and remains untested by drilling. Further interpretation
and analysis is underway to test this anomaly in 2013.
Mapping Program
The Prairie Creek property contains numerous metal showings
throughout its 16 kilometre strike length, some of which have been
sampled and drilled in previous years. Showings are referred to as
Zones and are generally separated by approximately one kilometre
spacings, including Zones 1-3 which contain the current defined
resource at the Minesite, then extending 10 kilometres to the south
to Zone 12. Mostly, only historical analyses are available in this
area and so a new property-wide comprehensive 1:2,000 scale
geological map was compiled in September 2012 along with an
up-to-date trench sampling program.
The existing Prairie Creek Mining Leases were the focus of the
program and were accessed by the network of existing roads in the
area with additional traversing as needed. LIDAR and orthophoto
surveys were flown earlier in 2012, and provided an accurate base
to plot observations from a total of 225 kilometres of traverses.
Previously mapped areas were incorporated and infill mapping and
resampling of trenches was completed. A georeferenced photographic
dataset was also acquired throughout the property.
Select results from trench sampling in some of the southern
Zones are as follows:
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Zone Sample Type Length (m) Pb (%) Zn (%) Ag (g/t) Cu (%)
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Zone 5 Chip 0.40 16.7 11.7 279 0.86
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Zone 5 Grab N/A 74.1 1.6 697 0.60
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Zone 5 Grab N/A 66.3 0.7 1038 1.80
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Zone 5 Grab N/A 42.2 8.1 489 0.63
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Zone 5 Grab N/A 45.5 2.6 633 0.77
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Zone 5 Grab N/A 41.4 0.2 440 0.08
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Zone 5 Grab N/A 34 1.2 491 0.68
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Zone 6 Channel 0.69 8.6 9.4 145 0.23
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Zone 6 Chip 2.00 20.5 11.3 274 0.35
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Zone 6 Grab N/A 12.2 12.9 194 0.40
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Zone 6 Grab N/A 12.8 4.7 188 0.24
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Zone 7 Channel 1.10 15.5 26.5 233 0.85
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Zone 7 Channel 1.70 15.3 7.2 223 0.19
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Zone 7 Chip 1.90 6.9 17.7 102 0.38
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Zone 7 Chip 2.00 7.3 13.8 208 0.54
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Zone 7 Grab N/A 50.4 0.4 965 0.92
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Zone 8 Channel 1.40 10.7 17.2 214 0.19
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Zone 8 Channel 0.88 7.8 10.7 395 0.60
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Zone 8 Chip 2.00 20.6 29.6 321 0.45
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Zone 8 Chip 2.85 17.1 17.4 250 0.25
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Zone 8 Chip 1.90 16.8 11.8 342 0.39
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Zone 10 Channel 0.66 10.5 9.1 266 0.60
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Zone 10 Chip 4.00 21.2 14.3 279 0.40
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Zone 10 Chip 4.00 5.5 8.4 118 0.31
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Zone 10 Grab N/A 21 6.6 176 0.13
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Zone 11 Chip 0.42 7.3 23.2 80 0.26
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The mapping database is presently being compiled from more than
1,300 field observations in a Geographic Information System and
will provide a solid basis for planning future exploration of the
extensive length of the Prairie Creek property.
Quality Assurance and Quality Control
The drill core samples were cut by diamond saw and securely,
through chain of custody, shipped to AGAT Laboratories for initial
multi-element assay by ICP-OES analysis. Further assays and
analysis was completed where appropriate and standards, duplicates
and blanks were inserted and included within the analysis. Alan
Taylor, P. Geo., Chief Operating Officer & Vice President
Exploration and a Director of Canadian Zinc Corporation, is
responsible for the exploration program, and is a Qualified Person
for the purposes of NI 43-101 and has approved this press
release.
About Canadian Zinc
Canadian Zinc is a Toronto-listed exploration and development
company. The company's main project is the 100%-owned Prairie Creek
zinc, silver and lead project located in the Northwest Territories,
Canada. The Prairie Creek Project contains a Mineral Reserve of 5.2
million tonnes averaging 9.4% zinc, 9.5% lead and 151 g/t silver.
In addition, Prairie Creek hosts an Inferred Resource averaging
14.5% zinc, 11.5% lead, 0.57% copper and 229 g/t silver. (AMC
Mining Consultants (Canada) Ltd. J M Shannon and D Nussipakynova,
Qualified Persons, June 2012).
A Pre-Feasibility study completed by SNC Lavalin in June 2012
indicates a pre-tax net present value ("NPV") of $253 million using
an 8% discount, with an internal rate of return ("IRR") of 40.4%
and payback period of 3 years using long-term metal price
projections of $1.00/lb zinc, $1.00/lb lead and $26.00/oz. silver,
based on the Mineral Reserve alone.
Canadian Zinc also holds the South Tally Pond VMS exploration
project in Newfoundland, where a winter drilling program is
planned.
Cautionary Statement - Forward-Looking Information
This press release contains certain forward-looking information,
including, among other things, the expected completion of
acquisitions and the advancement of mineral properties. This
forward looking information includes, or may be based upon,
estimates, forecasts, and statements as to management's
expectations with respect to, among other things, the completion of
transactions, the issue of permits, the size and quality of mineral
resources, future trends for the company, progress in development
of mineral properties, future production and sales volumes, capital
costs, mine production costs, demand and market outlook for metals,
future metal prices and treatment and refining charges, the outcome
of legal proceedings, the timing of exploration, development and
mining activities, acquisition of shares in other companies and the
financial results of the company. There can be no assurances that
such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and
future events could differ materially from those anticipated in
such statements. The Company does not currently hold a permit for
the operation of the Prairie Creek Mine. Mineral resources that are
not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
Inferred mineral resources are considered too speculative
geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that
would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. There is
no certainty that mineral resources will be converted into mineral
reserves.
Cautionary Note to United States Investors
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC")
permits U.S. mining companies, in their filings with the SEC, to
disclose only those mineral deposits that a company can
economically and legally extract or produce. We use certain terms
in this press release, such as "measured," "indicated," and
"inferred" "resources," which the SEC guidelines prohibit U.S.
registered companies from including in their filings with the
SEC.
Contacts: Canadian Zinc Corporation John F. Kearney Chairman
(416) 362-6686 (416) 368-5344 (FAX) Canadian Zinc Corporation Alan
B. Taylor VP Exploration & Chief Operating Officer (604)
688-2001 or Toll Free: 1-866-688-2001 (604) 688-2043 (FAX) Canadian
Zinc Corporation Steve Dawson VP Corporate Development (416)
203-1418 (416) 368-5344 (FAX)invest@canadianzinc.com
www.canadianzinc.com