Usha Resources Aims to Secure Another Promising Lithium Pegmatite Project in Ontario
Usha Resources Ltd. (TSXV: USHA; OTCQB: USHAF; FSE: JO0) is reorganizing its portfolio and will henceforth become a pure lithium explorer. As the company announces, it has decided not to pursue the Lost Basin gold-copper project in Arizona further. Instead, Usha will focus exclusively on its growing portfolio of lithium projects in the future. These include the flagship White Willow lithium pegmatite project in Ontario and the Jackpot Lake lithium brine project in Nevada. At White Willow, Usha recently identified a Lithium-Caesium-Tantalum (LCT) anomaly with a potential strike length of at least 25 kilometers. At Jackpot Lake, Usha aims to demonstrate that the system there is comparable to that of Clayton Valley, which hosts Albemarle’s Silver Peak lithium brine mine.
New Acquisition in the Pipeline
Usha is already working on another significant acquisition in the hard rock lithium sector in Ontario. As the company reports, negotiations for the acquisition of assets in the Frazer Lake Camp are already well advanced. At Frazer Lake, a spodumene-rich vein with an average grade of 6.82% Li2O was recently identified within a 9 km long trend. Usha aims to secure “specific projects near and adjacent to the discovery”.
Deepak Varshney, CEO of Usha Resources, commented: “We will focus on our core projects Jackpot Lake and White Willow in the future, but also look for expansion opportunities in Ontario and Quebec, where recent discoveries highlight the potential of these areas as emerging centers for lithium exploration and development, comparable to some of the largest areas worldwide.”
Jackpot Lake
At the Jackpot Lake lithium brine project, Usha continues to work on defining a resource according to NI 43-101. The exploration to date has confirmed a geological system similar to that of Clayton Valley, which hosts Albemarle’s Silver Peak lithium brine mine and Pure Energy’s Clayton Valley project. Investigations at Jackpot Lake have identified up to 128 m of potentially pumpable aquifer in a coarse-grained zone similar to units where a large volume of brine with above-average grades was found in Clayton Valley.
The project’s soils are enriched with lithium to an extent comparable to Clayton Valley. Enriched lithium is present in the advanced holes, with an average of 334 ppm and a maximum value of 820 ppm Li in 30 samples taken from near-surface soils (less than 45 m) within borehole JP22-02. These results compare very favorably with the reported average of 100 ppm for the Esmeralda Formation in Clayton Valley.
Borehole JP22-02 encountered a stratigraphy similar to that in borehole JP22-01, indicating that the favorable stratigraphy identified during drilling is present throughout the basin, as the two boreholes are 2.75 km apart.
White Willow
At the White Willow lithium pegmatite project, Usha plans to commence initial drilling in the first quarter of 2024. The strike length of the system exceeds 25 km and is open at both ends. Four (4) primary target areas have been identified, including two (2) highly evolved pegmatite swarms, Maple Leaf and Bingo, which extend for more than 1 km and show excellent geochemistry and mineralogy indicating they are potentially spodumene-bearing. High-grade, coarse-grained tantalite with a grade of 14.64% Ta2O5 is present. The only other known occurrence is in the North Aubrey pegmatite at Green Technology Metals’ (GT1) Seymour Lake Project, where GT1 has identified 9.9 Mt at 1.04% Li2O.
Conclusion: Usha Resources may not be among the early starters in the lithium sector. However, over the past 12 months, the company has proven its ability to purposefully acquire interesting projects and quickly evaluate them through on-site exploration. The planned addition to the portfolio through properties at Frazer Lake should be closely monitored. The lithium content of 6.82% found there at the surface is world-class. Australian investors in particular, who have recently become more active in the Canadian market, are likely to have noticed these values. In Australia, lithium exploration is generally much more complex, as most deposits lie beneath an overburden layer, and only drilling reveals whether spodumene is present.
