ZincX Resources Initiates Airborne LiDAR Survey of the Akie and Mt. Alcock Properties
VANCOUVER, July 28, 2022 - ZincX Resources Corp. ("ZincX" or the "Company") (TSX Venture Exchange:ZNX)(OTCQB:ZNCXF)(FRA:M9R) is pleased to announce that it has initiated the previously planned high-resolution airborne LiDAR survey over the Akie and Mt. Alcock Properties. The survey will be completed in the coming weeks.
The Company has engaged Eagle Mapping Ltd. of Langley, British Columbia to conduct an airborne LiDAR survey over the Company's Akie and Mt. Alcock properties. The survey is expected to be flown, as weather permits, in the coming weeks.
A Piper Navajo PA-31 aircraft will conduct the survey utilising a RIEGL LMS-Q1560 high performance, fully integrated long-range airborne laser scanner that is integrated with an Applanix POS AV610 accurate GPS system. The two properties will be broken down into suitable segments and flown in grid pattern along a series of parallel lines while maintaining vertical and horizonal accuracies. The survey area of the Akie property consists of 97.6 km2 and the Mt. Alcock property consists of 91.2 km2.
Eagle Mapping Ltd. will provide the Company with a high-resolution 0.5m Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and digital surface model (DSM), a bare earth point dataset, and a fully detailed topographical dataset including contours for use in future exploration programs.
The data acquired during this airborne survey will be used in conjunction with a proposed ground Gravity program over the Cardiac Creek deposit on the Akie property and over the Zn-Pb-Ag rich barite showing present on the Mt. Alcock property located approximately 40 kilometres to the northwest of the Akie Property. The data will be a valued source of information for any future engineering designs and for surface infrastructure plans related to the development of the Cardiac Creek deposit as outlined in the Company's 2018 preliminary Economic Assessment.
The Company has previously engaged Eagle Mapping Ltd. on two other occasions; first in 2006 in order to collect a detailed set of orthophotos and provide detailed topographical data over the prospective areas Akie property to assist exploration efforts during the initial stages of drilling on the Cardiac Creek deposit; and again in 2011 to provide LiDAR coverage over a very narrow swath of the property that covered the proposed surface works including road construction to extend the Akie Mainline FSR, the waste rock dump, and the planned portal site.
The Akie Zn-Pb-Ag Project
The 100% owned Akie property is situated within the Kechika Trough, the southernmost area of the regionally extensive Paleozoic Selwyn Basin and 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 ZincX Resources since 2005 has identified a significant body of baritic-zinc-lead 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 updated the estimate of mineral resources at Cardiac Creek in 2018, as follows:
| 5% Zinc Cut-Off Grade | Contained Metal: | ||||||
| Category | Tonnes | Zn (%) | Pb (%) | Ag (g/t) | Zn (B lbs) | Pb (B lbs) | Ag (M oz) |
| Indicated | 22.7 | 8.32 | 1.61 | 14.1 | 4.162 | 0.804 | 10.3 |
| Inferred | 7.5 | 7.04 | 1.24 | 12.0 | 1.169 | 0.205 | 2.9 |
The Company announced robust positive results from the 2018 Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA). The PEA envisages a conventional underground mine and concentrator operation with an average production rate of 4,000 tonnes per day. The mine will have an 18-year life with potential to extend the life-of-mine (LOM) through resource expansion at depth. Key parameters for the PEA are as follows:
| Parameter | Base Case1 |
| Tonnes Mined | 25.8 Mt |
| Mined Head Grades | 7.6% Zn; 1.5% Pb; 13.08 g/t Ag |
| Tonnes Milled | 19.7 Mt |
| Milled Head Grades (after DMS2 upgrade) | 10.0% Zn; 1.9% Pb; 17.17 g/t Ag |
| Total Payable Metal (LOM) | $3,960M3 |
| Initial CAPEX | $302.3M including $45.7M contingency |
| q | $617.9M including $58.5M contingency |
| All-in Total OPEX | $102.4 per tonne milled |
| Pre-Tax NPV7% | $649M |
| Pre-Tax IRR | 35% |
| Pre-Tax Payback | 2.6 years |
| After-Tax NPV7% | $401M |
| After-Tax IRR | 27% |
| After-Tax Payback | 3.2 years |
1. The base case used metal prices are calculated from the 3 year trailing average coupled with two year forward projection of the average price; and are: US$1.21/lb for zinc, US$1.00/lb for lead and US$16.95 for silver. A CDN$/US$ exchange rate of 0.77 was used. The NPV discount rate is 7%. 2. DMS = dense media separation. 3. All dollar amounts expressed in Canadian dollars.
The PEA is considered preliminary in nature and includes mineral resources, including inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves have not yet demonstrated economic viability. Due to the uncertainty that may be attached to mineral resources, it cannot be assumed that all or any part of a mineral resource will be upgraded to mineral reserves. Therefore, there is no certainty that the results concluded in the PEA will be realized.
Kechika Regional Project
In addition to the Akie Project, the Company owns 100% of eight of eleven large, contiguous property blocks that comprise the Kechika Regional Project including the advanced Mt. Alcock prospect. The Kechika Regional Project also includes the Pie, Yuen and Cirque East properties which the Company maintains a significant 49% interest with partners Teck Resources Limited (TSX: TECK.B) and Korea Zinc Co. Ltd holding 51%. These properties collectively extend northwest from the Akie property for approximately 140 kilometres covering 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.
Ken MacDonald P.Geo., Vice President of Exploration for the Company, is the designated Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for the technical information contained in this release. Mike Makarenko P.Eng, JDS Energy and Mining, is the designated Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for the PEA 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
"PEEYUSH VARSHNEY"
PEEYUSH VARSHNEY, LL.B
CEO & CHAIRMAN
Contact:
Investor Relations
Phone (604) 684-2181
info@zincxresources.com
SOURCE: ZincX Resources Corp.
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