INDEPENDENT AUDITORS’ REPORT OF REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To the Shareholders of
Canadian Zinc Corporation
We have audited the accompanying financial statements of Canadian Zinc Corporation, which comprise the balance sheets as at December 31, 2010 and 2009, and the statements of operations, comprehensive income (loss) and deficit, shareholders' equity and cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2010, and a summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory information.
Management’s responsibility for the financial statements
Management is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of these financial statements in accordance with Canadian generally accepted accounting principles, and for such internal control as management determines is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
Auditors’ responsibility
Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits. We conducted our audits in accordance with Canadian generally accepted auditing standards and the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we comply with ethical requirements and plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free from material misstatement.
An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The procedures selected depend on the auditors’ judgment, including the assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, the auditors consider internal control relevant to the entity's preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances. An audit also includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements.
We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained in our audits is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit opinion.
Opinion
In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Canadian Zinc Corporation as at December 31, 2010 and 2009, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2010 in accordance with Canadian generally accepted accounting principles.
Other matter
We have also audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), Canadian Zinc Corporation’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2010, based on the criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission and our report dated March 16, 2011 expressed an unqualified opinion on Canadian Zinc Corporation’s internal control over financial reporting.
| Vancouver, Canada | ERNST & YOUNG LLP |
| March 16, 2011 | Chartered Accountants |
Independent Auditors’ Report on Internal Controls under Standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States)
To the Shareholders of
Canadian Zinc Corporation
We have audited Canadian Zinc Corporation’s [the “Company”] internal control over financial reporting as at December 31, 2010, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission [the “COSO criteria”]. The Company’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit.
We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the Company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the Company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the Company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of the Company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
In our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2010 based on the COSO criteria.
We also have audited, in accordance with Canadian generally accepted auditing standards and the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), the balance sheets as at December 31, 2010 and 2009 and the statements of operations, comprehensive income (loss) and deficit, shareholders’ equity and cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2010 of the Company and our report dated March 16, 2011 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.
| Vancouver, Canada | ERNST & YOUNG LLP |
| March 16, 2011 | Chartered Accountants |
