Highlights:
- The Company has completed 5 weeks of fieldwork, expanding the lithium-cesium-tantalum (“LCT”) pegmatite trend on the property to a potential strike length of >25 km open at both ends. Phase 3 will consist of two (2) teams deployed onsite for up to six (6) weeks to maximize the mapping, sampling and prospecting that can be completed prior to initiating drilling.
- Assays from 618 samples have delineated 10 high-priority drill targets with potassium/rubidium ratios (K/Rb) below 30. K/Rb is a key tool in identifying potentially spodumene-bearing dykes; to‑date; 10 pegmatites have been identified with K/Rb ratios <30 with a low of 7.5. Values below 30 are indicative of rare-earth pegmatites, 20 of spodumene-subtype pegmatites[i], and those below 10 are often associated with economic spodumene pegmatites.
- The Company intends on drilling each of the 10 target pegmatites as part of its maiden drill program.
- Highlight results include up to 0.5% Li2O (2,310 ppm), 1,833 ppm cesium, 120,000 ppm tantalum and 3,540 ppm rubidium.
Vancouver, British Columbia / October 17, 2023 – Usha Resources Ltd. (“USHA” or the “Company”) (TSXV: USHA) (OTCQB: USHAF) (FSE: JO0), a North American mineral acquisition and exploration company, is pleased to provide this update on its on-going field program at the White Willow Lithium Pegmatite Project (“White Willow” or the “Project”) located 170 km west of Thunder Bay, Ontario.
The Company has completed 5 weeks of fieldwork this season, with data compilation complete for 618 samples that have delineated 10 high-priority drill targets for its planned maiden drill program.
The focus of the third phase of fieldwork will be to complete a detailed follow-up of the targets at Bingo and Maple Leaf and to further prospect and assess the ground between these two lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatite swarms. Two (2) teams will be deployed onsite for up to six (6) weeks, one at each swarm, to maximize the mapping, sampling and prospecting that can be completed prior to initiating drilling.
“We are thrilled with the findings from the initial programs at White Willow and are very excited to continue to build on our success,” said Deepak Varshney, CEO of Usha Resources. “As seen at Patriot Battery Metals’ Corvette Project, which has over 20 kilometres of trend, lithium pegmatite swarms occur in clusters, each of which has the potential to become a deposit. We now have 10 primary target areas across our 25 kilometre plus trend that include two highly evolved LCT pegmatite swarms at Bingo and Maple Leaf. With significant ground remaining between Bingo and Maple Leaf for further exploration and follow-up, we intend on maximizing the remaining time in the field season before commencing preparations for maiden winter drill program. The findings thus far strongly validate our belief that Willow is a flagship asset where Ontario’s next major lithium discovery will occur.”
The Company is presently compiling the remainder of the assays collected from the earlier fieldwork and will release them upon completion.
A key mineralogical finding to-date is the identification of holmquistite within the host rock at Bingo. Holmquistite is a mineral alteration that typically occurs on the margins of lithium-rich pegmatites and suggests that the dykes at Bingo have a strong potential to be spodumene-bearing.
Figure 1 – Top, aerial view of the Bingo Dyke where a potentially single large dyke over ~1.2 km in length is present if connected under cover. Bottom left, tantalite crystal with a spessartine garnet inclusion. Bottom right, holmquistite alteration within the country rock. The tantalite, spessartine garnet, and holmquistite indicate that the system is highly evolved and potentially spodumene-bearing.
Assay highlights to-date include:
- Lithium oxide (Li2O) values up to 0.5%, with 76 samples containing very anomalous (>300 ppm) concentrations of lithium, including 14 above >1,000 ppm with a sample of the host rock which assayed 1,300 ppm indicating significant lithium-rich fluids are present within the system.
- Cesium (Cs) values up to 1,730 ppm, with 71 samples containing very anomalous (>100 ppm) concentrations including 10 which are >500 ppm, indicating the samples are being collected from the outer zone of a fertile LCT system, which is where spodumene, if present, will be identified.
- Tantalum (ta) values up to 120,000 ppm Ta, with 82 samples containing very anomalous (>30 ppm) concentrations including 35 which are >60 ppm, indicative of the presence of a spodumene-bearing pegmatite.
Of note, a high-grade showing of 14.64% Ta2O5 is present at the Maple Leaf Dyke; 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.
- Rubidium values of up to 3,540 ppm, with 94 samples containing very anomalous (>1,000 ppm) concentrations including 24 >2,000 ppm.
- Geochemical assessment also indicates the strong potential for spodumene-bearing dykes to be present at the property. Per Selway et al., potassium/rubidium ratios (K/Rb), are a key tool in identifying these types of dykes; K/Rb ratios of <30 are indicative of rare-earth pegmatites and <20 of spodumene-subtype pegmatites. To-date, 10 pegmatites have been identified with K/Rb ratios <30 with a low of 7.5. Values below 10 are often associated with economic spodumene pegmatites.
Figure 2 – Bubble plot of K/Rb ratios for the White Willow project. The Maple Leaf and Bingo Pegmatite Dike Swarms contain highly evolved LCT-pegmatites with excellent geochemical (low K/Rb and Nb/Ta ratios) and mineralogical (spessartine garnets, blue-green apatite, lithium amphiboles) indicators to be potentially spodumene bearing.
Quality Assurance/Quality Control
All collected rock samples were put in sturdy plastic bags, tagged, and sealed at site. Sample bags were then put in rice bags and kept securely before being sent by road transport or delivered by the crew supervisor to either AGAT Laboratories Ltd. or Activation Laboratories in Thunder Bay, Ontario. All samples are analyzed with Four-Acid Digestion/Combined ICP-AES/MS package (49 elements). The QA/QC protocol included the insertion and monitoring of appropriate reference materials, in this case high concentration and low concentration certified OREAS and CDN lithium standards to validate the accuracy and precision of the assay results.
Qualified person
The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Andrew Tims, P.Geo., a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
About Usha Resources Ltd.
Usha Resources Ltd. is a North American mineral acquisition and exploration company focused on the development of quality lithium metal properties that are drill-ready with high-upside and expansion potential. Based in Vancouver, BC, Usha’s portfolio of strategic properties provides target-rich diversification and includes Jackpot Lake, a lithium brine project in Nevada and White Willow, a lithium pegmatite project in Ontario that is the flagship among its growing portfolio of hard-rock lithium assets. Usha trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol USHA, the OTCQB Exchange under the symbol USHAF and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol JO0.
USHA RESOURCES LTD.
For more information, please call Tyler Muir, Investor Relations, at 1-888-772-2452, email tmuir@usharesources.com, or visit www.usharesources.com.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-looking statements:
This news release may include “forward-looking information” under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forward-looking information reflects management’s current beliefs and are based on a number of estimates and/or assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that such forward-looking information are neither promises nor guarantees and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties, uncertain and volatile equity and capital markets, lack of available capital, actual results of exploration activities, environmental risks, future prices of base and other metals, operating risks, accidents, labour issues, delays in obtaining governmental approvals and permits, and other risks in the mining industry.
The Company is presently an exploration stage company. Exploration is highly speculative in nature, involves many risks, requires substantial expenditures, and may not result in the discovery of mineral deposits that can be mined profitably. Furthermore, the Company currently has no reserves on any of its properties. As a result, there can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.
[1] Selway, J. et al. 2005. A Review of Rare-Element (Li-Cs-Ta) Pegmatite Exploration Techniques for the Superior Province, Canada, and Large Worldwide Tantalum Deposits. Exploration and Mining Geology, Vol. 14, Nos. 1-4, pp. 1-30.