FIREWEED ZINC LTD. (TSX-V: FWZ) is pleased to announce the first results from the 2020 drilling at the Macmillan Pass Project in Yukon, Canada. These results are from Boundary Zone, located 15 road kilometres west of the Tom-Jason deposits (see Map 1).

Highlights

• Significant assays over wide sections have been received from the first two diamond drill holes, NB20-001 and NB20-002, drilled in the central Boundary Zone area.
• Hole NB20-002 intersected 4.42% Zinc, 0.08% Lead and 10.7 g/t Silver over 212.70 m, including 25.58% Zinc, 0.14% Lead and 44.0 g/t Silver over 5.81 m.
• Hole NB20-001 intersected 2.60% Zinc, 0.06% Lead and 5.9 g/t Silver over 246.68 m from surface including 23.62% Zinc, 0.22% Lead and 53.7 g/t Silver over 4.95 m.
• Assays from other holes including the new discovery at Boundary Zone West are pending.

Table 1: Highlights of initial 2020 results from central Boundary Zone (length and density weighted average assays).

CEO Statement

Brandon Macdonald, CEO, stated “These first assays have been a long time coming due to slow turn around at the lab while they operate under COVID-19 limitations. The assays reported here are from the first two holes drilled in the central Boundary Zone area in 2020. We are pleased to see more good grades extending this wide zone of mineralization with very high-grade sections to depth in the central Boundary Zone area. Overall a belated but great start to the 2020 drill assays.”

2020 Drill Results

The 2020 drill program was completed in October, but these are the first assays to be announced due to slow turn around at the lab operating under COVID-19 limitations. Infill and step-out drilling at Boundary Zone (Map 2) has successfully encountered wide zones of zinc-lead mineralization, significantly expanding the extent of the known mineralization. Drill hole NB20-002, reported in this news release, was drilled obliquely, and in the opposite direction to previous drilling and extends central Boundary Zone 150 m beyond previously drilled mineralization in this direction. This 150 m extension includes high-grade zinc mineralization, such as the 33 m intersection of 8.38% Zinc (227-260 m) that includes 5.81 m of 25.58% Zinc (Table 1). Central Boundary Zone now extends from surface down to 300 m. The zone remains open at depth as hole NB20-002 was terminated in mineralization due to drilling difficulties and would otherwise have been drilled deeper.

At central Boundary Zone, Fireweed drill holes from 2020 (NB20-001 and NB20-002), and 2019 (NB19-001 and NB19-002) were all drilled at different azimuths or dips (see Map 2 and Section 1) to test whether vein orientations are biasing grades in drill holes oriented near-parallel to the veins. Consistent average zinc grades throughout all four holes suggest that there is not a significant grade bias that is dependent on drill orientation and that the mineralization comprises an approximately 230-250 m thick stratabound sequence with vein stockworks, breccias and replacement-style zinc mineralization. True widths of individual cm- to m-scale veins intersected in NB20-001 and NB20-002 vary greatly from 20% to 95% of intersected thicknesses but the overall true thickness of central Boundary Zone is 230-250 m.

A total of nine holes were drilled at Boundary Zone this season for 2,948 m (Map 2 and Table 4). Additional 2020 drill holes targeted a ground-gravity high anomaly surveyed in 2020 and resulted in the discovery of new wide sections of pyrite-sphalerite-galena mineralization, extending Boundary Zone at least 360 m to the west in a new discovery named Boundary Zone West. Assays for the discovery holes at Boundary Zone West are pending and descriptions of all holes drilled in the 2020 season are in Table 5.

Boundary Zone Potential

There is no mineral resource for Boundary Zone yet and the zone is not included in the current mineral resource estimate for the property (described in Fireweed news release dated January 10, 2018). Boundary Zone has potential to be mined in an open pit with a low strip ratio and to be upgraded through low cost, preconcentration ore sorting processes (see Fireweed news release dated July 31, 2019). Recent drill results at Boundary Zone along with Tom North Zone and End Zone (see Fireweed news releases dated August 20 and September 10, 2019, and November 15 and 29, 2018) represent potential for expansion of the large current mineral resources and improvement of Macmillan Pass project economics described in the current Preliminary Economic Assessment (see Fireweed news release dated May 23, 2018).

Boundary Zone Background

Boundary Zone mineralization consists of sphalerite-siderite-pyrite and minor galena in veins, stockworks, disseminations, and as replacement of matrix and clasts within coarse clastic rocks. Drilling in 2020 at Boundary Zone West also identified stratiform mineralized sequences similar to the Tom and Jason deposits (see news release dated November 24, 2020).

Historical exploration work at Boundary Zone included geochemical and geophysical surveys as well as 24 drill holes that defined a central 200 x 800 m mineralized zone of zinc (-lead-silver) mineralization within a broader system over 2 km in strike length. Historical length-weighted average intersections¹ such as 224.0 m of 2.50% zinc and 0.30% lead, including 4.5 m of 16.40% zinc, are consistent with recent Fireweed drilling and demonstrated potential for bulk tonnage open pit mineralization.

In 2019, Fireweed drilled two holes into the central part of the known Boundary Zone mineralization. Both holes intersected wide zones of high-grade replacement-style and vein- and breccia-hosted zinc mineralization, including 100.0 m (true width) of 8.73% zinc from surface including 6.4 m of 43.53% zinc within 230.0 m of 4.51% zinc (see Tables 6A, 6B and Fireweed news release dated November 5^th, 2019).

Notes on sampling, assaying, and data aggregation:

The diamond drill core logging and sampling program was carried out under a rigorous quality assurance / quality control program using industry best practices. Drill intersections in this release are all HQ3 (split tube) size core (61.1mm / 2.4-inch diameter) with recoveries typically above 85%. After drilling, core was logged for geology, structure and geotechnical characteristics, marked for sampling, and photographed on site. The cores for analyses were marked for sampling based on geological intervals with individual samples 1.5 metres or less in length. Drill core from the Boundary Zone was cut lengthwise in half with a core saw; half-core was sent for assays reported in this news release, and the other half is stored on site for reference. Bulk density was determined on site for the entire length of each sample assayed by measurement of mass in air and mass in water. Sample duplicate bulk density determinations and in-house bulk density standard determinations were each made at a rate of 5%. Since 2017, four in-house bulk density standards (mineralized drill core from the Tom deposit that span a range of densities) have been used and show an acceptable long-term precision. Certified standard masses are used to calibrate the scale balance used for bulk density determinations.

A total of 5% assay standards or blanks and 5% core duplicates are included in the sample stream as a quality control measure and are reviewed after analyses are received. Standards and blanks in 2020 drill results to date have been approved as acceptable. Duplicate data add to the long-term estimates of precision for assay data on the project and precision for drill results reported is deemed to be within acceptable levels. Samples were sent to the Bureau Veritas preparation laboratory in Whitehorse, Yukon, where the samples were crushed and a 500 g split was sent to the Bureau Veritas laboratory in Vancouver, B.C to be pulverized to 85% passing 200 mesh size pulps. Clean crush material was passed through the crusher and clean silica was pulverized between each sample. The pulps were analyzed by 1:1:1 Aqua Regia digestion followed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-ES/ICP-MS) multi-element analyses (BV Code AQ270). All samples were also analyzed for multiple elements by lithium borate fusion and Xray fluorescence analysis (XRF) finish (BV Code LF725). Over-limit Pb (>25.0%) and Zn (>24.0%) were analyzed by lithium borate fusion with XRF finish (BV Code LF726). Silver is reported in this news release by method AQ270, and zinc and lead are reported by LF725 or LF726. Bureau Veritas (Vancouver) is an independent, international ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accredited laboratory.

Results in this news release are length and bulk-density weighted averages as would be used in a Mineral Resource estimate. Readers are cautioned that in Fireweed news releases in prior years, only length weighted assay averages were reported which may result in slightly lower (under reported) average values. To allow comparison of 2019 Boundary Zone drilling with 2020 results, 2019 intersections from holes NB19-001 and NB19-002 have been re-stated in Tables 6A and 6B as length and bulk-density weighted averages (originally reported in Fireweed news releases dated 16^th October and 5^th November 2019). Length and bulk-density weighted averages have been reported as these most accurately represent the average metal-content of the intersections.

Qualified Person Statement

Technical information in this news release has been approved by Gilles Dessureau, P.Geo, Vice President Exploration and a ‘Qualified Person’ as defined under Canadian National Instrument 43101.

About Fireweed Zinc Ltd.:

Fireweed Zinc is a public mineral exploration company focused on zinc and managed by a veteran team of mining industry professionals. The Company is advancing its district-scale 940 km² Macmillan Pass Project in Yukon, Canada, which is host to the 100% owned Tom and Jason zinc-lead-silver deposits with current Mineral Resources and a PEA economic study (see Fireweed news releases dated January 10, 2018, and May 23, 2018, respectively, and reports filed on www.sedar.com for details) as well as the Boundary Zone, Tom North Zone and End Zone which have significant zinc-lead-silver mineralization drilled but not yet classified as mineral resources. The project also includes large blocks of adjacent claims (MAC, MC, MP, Jerry, BR, NS, Oro, Sol, Ben, and Stump) which cover exploration targets in the district where previous and recent work identified zinc, lead and silver prospects, and geophysical and geochemical anomalies in prospective host geology.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/06f98a10-3cdf-40a9-93a6-1f28eb4c331d

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a348cbb7-ae75-44af-a43f-1332010bcc5c

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/375b0cc2-762a-4336-b623-dd77c55e051e

Table 2: Boundary Zone drill hole NB20-001 detailed results.

Table 3: Boundary Zone drill hole NB20-002 detailed results.

Table 4: 2020 drill hole collar data.

Diamond Drill Hole Collars

*UTM Zone 9 NAD83

Reverse Circulation (RC) Drill Hole Collars

*UTM Zone 9 NAD83

Table 5: 2020 drill hole results and observations.
Diamond Drill Hole Descriptions – assays pending where noted.

Reverse Circulation (RC) Drill Hole Descriptions – assays pending.

Table 6A: 2019 drill results from hole NB19-001 reported as length and bulk density weighted averages.

Table 6B: 2019 drill results from hole NB19-002 reported as length and bulk density weighted averages.