Usha Resources Enters Hard-Rock Lithium Space with Acquisition of Significant Ontario Land Package with Highly Evolved LCT-Pegmatites

The White Willow Lithium-Tantalum Property is the first acquisition of Usha’s planned expansion into the hard-rock pegmatite space. The Company believes that the acquisition is highly complementary to its 100% owned flagship Jackpot Lake Lithium Brine Project, where it recently tripled its land position (see the Company’s news release dated February 28, 2023 ) and is undertaking its maiden drill program with a goal of defining a 43-101 resource (see the Company’s news release dated February 16, 2023 ), and will be an asset as part of its decision to pursue an listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (see the Company’s news release dated March 9, 2023 ).

White Willow Property

The acquisition of the White Willow Lithium-Tantalum Property, located in the Thunder Bay Mining Division near Atikokan, Ontario, presents a unique and timely opportunity to capitalize on the rapidly growing lithium metal and green energy markets in Canada. Spanning 15,510 hectares, the property is situated 170 kilometres west of Thunder Bay (Figure 1) in proximity to other lithium projects in the region, such as the Seymour Lake Lithium Project, the Georgia Lake pegmatite field, and the Separation Rapids Lithium deposit, showcasing the region’s rich lithium potential.

Access is excellent with Highway 11 running adjacent to the Property and logging roads present throughout. A main power transmission line runs through the Property.

The Property is under explored with over 75 outcropping white pegmatites identified in limited exploration, almost all of which have not been sampled. Indicator minerals such as red and orange garnets, green apatite and beryl have been noted over 8 kilometres in strike length.

The Property is confirmed to host a fertile lithium-cesium-tantalum (“LCT”) system with the presence of two highly evolved LCT-pegmatite dikes, one of which has the “Maple Leaf Showing” (Figure 2). These dikes have been the focus of the limited exploration work completed thus far with samples assaying as high as 0.5% Li 2 O and 14.64% Ta 2 O 5 in and around the dikes.

The LCT-pegmatite dike hosting the “Maple Leaf Showing” appears to be at least 50 metres wide and outcrops for approximately 350 metres along strike. In addition to the tantalite showing with 14.64% Ta 2 O 5, very coarse mineralization is present in its vicinity including up to 100 cm feldspar crystals, 11 cm beryl crystals and the coarse-grained tantalite present at MLS (Figure 3). Coarse-grained tantalite is only known to be found at one other locality in Ontario which is the North Aubrey pegmatite at Green Technology Metals (GT1) Seymour Lake Project where GT1 has identified a 9.9 Mt resource at 1.04% Li 2 O.

In addition to the above, limited surface sampling has identified very anomalous lithium values in numerous samples above 300 ppm with several samples assaying above 0.40% Li 2 O. Similarly, very anomalous tantalum and cesium is present throughout the property with two further showings assaying 3.41% and 3.78% Ta 2 O 5 . The high-grade tantalite along with the very anomalous lithium indicates the potential for higher-grade lithium to be present at the property in adjacent zones within the LCT-system.

The Property is on trend to the east of GT1’s Wisa Lake Lithium Project where GT1 has prepared an exploration target of 8 to 10 Mt at 0.8-1.5% Li 2 O. Grab samples at Wisa Lake have assayed over 1% Li 2 O and as high as 6.38% Li 2 O.

The property lies within the Quetico Subprovince 6 kilometres south of the Quetico Fault Zone. This deep-seated regional structure has been recognized to play a role in LCT pegmatite mineralization. In nature, LCT pegmatites are derived from a parental granitic source, whereby the granite melts into metasedimentary or metavolcanic host rock during a continental collision. For this reason, it is common to find LCT pegmatites near subprovince boundaries. LCT pegmatites are the last to crystalize components of granitic melts; a halo of pegmatites surrounds the granite, with these pegmatites exhibiting increased fractionation and complexity the further away from the granitic source. The presence of beryl, tantalum, and cesium indicates that the White Willow pegmatites are highly fractionated and very prospective for the presence of lithium as this zone is the “outer zone” that is most distal from the granitic source.

“The rising global demand for lithium, driven by the green energy revolution and the exponential growth of electric vehicles, makes the acquisition of the White Willow Lithium-Tantalum Property an attractive investment. This acquisition promises to position the Company at the forefront of the burgeoning lithium market, offering significant growth opportunities,” said Deepak Varshney, CEO of Usha Resources. “The geological characteristics of the property and the historical data on mineral occurrences make it an exceptional opportunity for exploration and potential development. By making these strategic acquisitions, we are positioning Usha at the forefront of the evolving lithium market, thereby securing a foothold in the rapidly expanding green energy sector. Many companies have recently staked properties in Ontario and Quebec based on map geology, but the White Willow property not only has a significant number of mapped pegmatites, it is a confirmed highly evolved LCT-system with high-grade tantalum that shows excellent potential for high-grade lithium bearing pegmatites. We are very pleased to have been able to assemble this highly prospective land package at a low cost.”

The Terms of the Agreements

Pursuant to the Option and Assignment Agreements (collectively, the “ Agreements ”), the Company may acquire a 100% interest in the Property by paying a total of $220,000 and issuing an aggregate of 3,600,000 common shares in the capital of the Company as indicated in the table below:

The Company has granted to each of the Vendor and Assignor a 1.5% net-smelter returns royalty (the “ NSR ”). The Company may purchase two-thirds of the net-smelter returns royalty (the “ NSR ”) from the Vendor and Assignor at any time for consideration of $1,250,000 and $1,000,000, respectively.

The Assignment Agreement, the Option Agreement and the transactions contemplated in each agreement, including the issuance of Shares, remains subject to the approval of the Exchange.