A variety of minor alloying elements such as Zr, Sr, Y, and Gd were added to Mg-3%Zn-0.5%Sn base alloy to form various fine precipitates and their effects on the microstructure, tensile properties, and sheet metal formability were investigated. Various very fine precipitates along with fine second phases were observed by the additions. It was found that Zr or Gd additive has a role to suppress the grain coarsening of alloy sheets during the hot working process. The Zr-added alloy showed the highest tensile elongation at $250^{circ}C$ whereas the Gd-added alloy exhibited the best sheet metal forming characteristics in terms of CCV (conical cup value) and spring-back tendency.