Following the company's AGM last week, president and CEO Mark Haywood said they were "sincerely grateful" for the government's Mineral Resource Development Fund's C$150,000 grant towards completing the study's technical report.

The PFS released in July had outlined initial capex of $30.8 million, an after-tax NPV8 of $115 million and an IRR of 49%, for a 14-year mine producing a five-year annual average of 35 million pounds of zinc and 15Mlb of lead.

The provincial government has a 2% NSR royalty on the mining lease, ScoZinc said in a September presentation.

Shareholders approved a name change at the AGM, likely to ScoMetals Mining Corporation.

The company said it was in "active discussions" with various capital providers and was aggressively pursuing the project finance required to start commercial production at Scotia.

It has said it was aiming for commercial production in 2021/2022.

ScoZinc said it had working capital of $68,574 at September 30, and had sufficient liquidity for operational expenses this year but not enough to commence commercial production.

It received about $215,000 from the sale of surplus equipment at Scotia in October.

The company last raised $1.15 million in a placement in the first half of this year priced at 30c per unit.

Its shares (TSXV: SZM) have ranged from 28-90c over the past year.

They closed up 16.25% on Friday to 46.5c, valuing it at $6.5 million (US$5 million).