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White Willow Lithium-Tantalum Project

White Willow Lithium-Tantalum Property in Ontario

Usha has executed an option to acquire 100% interest in 720 mining claims located in the Thunder Bay Mining Division of Ontario. The White Willow Lithium-Tantalum Property presents a unique and timely opportunity to capitalize on the rapidly growing lithium metal and green energy markets in Canada. Spanning 15,680 hectares, the property is situated 170 kilometres west of Thunder Bay 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”. These dikes have been the focus of the limited exploration work completed thus far with samples assaying as high as 0.5% Li2O and 14.64% Ta2O5 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% Ta2O5, 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. 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% Li2
  • 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% Li2 Similarly, very anomalous tantalum and cesium is present throughout the property with two further showings assaying 3.41% and 3.78% Ta2O5. 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% Li2 Grab samples at Wisa Lake have assayed over 1% Li2O and as high as 6.38% Li2O.

Nym Property

On April 4th 2023, Usha announced an executed option agreement to acquire 100% interest in 8 additional claims contiguous with White Willow, known as the Nym Property.

The Nym Property, located in the Thunder Bay Mining Division near Atikokan, Ontario, expands the existing 712 claim block to a total of 720 claims, adding 170 hectares to the 15,510 hectares the Company has already optioned.

The Property is located approximately 500 metres along strike from the Maple Leaf Dike on the White Willow Property which is confirmed to host a fertile lithium-cesium-tantalum (“LCT”) system with samples assaying as high as 0.5% Li2O and 14.64% Ta2O5 in and around the dike with coarse-grained tantalite present. 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% Li2O.

Similar to White Willow, the Property is under explored, with only three of 119 mapped pegmatites reported to be present by Bandore Resources, the former owners of the property, assessed in the limited modern exploration completed to-date. The assessed pegmatites, however, have been confirmed to be white pegmatites with highly anomalous lithium up to 520 ppm (>50 ppm is considered anomalous). Furthermore, drilling conducted for precious and base metals has identified pegmatite intersections as thick as 40 metres, suggesting that similar to the White Willow Property, the Nym Property pegmatites may also be highly fractioned LCT-pegmatites that bear spodumene and other LCT-minerals, particularly as they are located 500 metres away on trend from the Maple Leaf Dike.

EXPLORATION PLANS

With the coming snowmelt, the Company intends on aggressively pursue an exploration program at the White Willow and Nym Lake Lithium Pegmatite Projects with the goal of drilling them in Q3 of 2023.

The exploration work will involve a combination of prospecting, mapping and rock sampling, combined with soil sampling and geophysical surveying. Exploration is slated to begin in the final week of April 2023 and will include:

  • Prospecting, mapping, rock sampling
  • Geophysical ground surveys (resistivity)
  • Soil sampling over target features
  • Trenching and,
  • Diamond drilling best targets


With almost 200 pegmatites and a confirmed fertile LCT‑system, the focus of the summer program will be the identification of drill targets, particularly in the vicinity of the “Maple Leaf Showing”, an LCT‑pegmatite dike that appears to be at least 50 metres wide and outcrops for approximately 350 metres along strike. Tantalite as high as 14.64% Ta2O5 has been identified here, with the very coarse mineralization observed seen elsewhere only in one other locality within the province: the North Aubrey pegmatite at Green Technology Metals (GT1) Seymour Lake Project where GT1 has identified a 9.9 Mt resource at 1.04% Li2O.

The first of Usha’s planned expansion into the hard-rock pegmatite space, White Willow is an advanced grassroots asset that is host to a fertile lithium-cesium-tantalum system that contains coarse-grained tantalite crystallization only found in one other locale in Ontario: the North Aubrey pegmatite at Green Technology Metals’ (GT1) Seymour Lake project, where GT1 has identified a 9.9-million-tonne resource at 1.04 per cent Li2O.

Nym Lake is the Company’s second pegmatite acquisition and is host to at least 119 pegmatites that are on trend with the system identified at White Willow, giving the Company almost 200 pegmatites to explore that may be related to the identified LCT-system.

GEOLOGY

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.

* Very coarse mineralization is present in and in the vicinity of the Maple Leaf Showing including up to 100 cm feldspar crystals, 11 cm beryl crystals (left) and the coarse-grained tantalite (top and bottom right). These minerals indicate fertile granitic melts and fractionation, which are essential processes for lithium-bearing pegmatite deposition. The 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% Li2O.
* Generalized exploration model for LCT pegmatites. Pegmatites exhibit a high degree of zonation, whereby different portions of the pegmatite body may contain different minerals. Mineralization is spatially related to the source; barren pegmatites are more likely to occur at the granitic source, but as one moves more distal, the pegmatites are expected to increase in tantalum, then lithium, and then cesium. 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. Source: USGS (modified from Trueman and Cerny, 1982).

CEO Deepak Varshney's Thoughts

“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.”

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