Usha Resources Completes Phase Three Program, Extending Strike to 27 Kilometres at the White Willow Lithium Pegmatite Project
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Usha Resources Completes Phase Three Program, Extending Strike to 27 Kilometres at the
White Willow Lithium Pegmatite Project
Highlights:
The Company has completed its Phase 3 program at the White Willow Lithium Pegmatite Project.
A total of 727 grab samples were collected as part of detailed mapping and prospecting over 10
weeks.
The Company has successfully exten ded the potential strike of t he LCT pegmatite trend to
approximately >27 km, still open at both ends.
Fractionation indicators suggest the dykes at Bingo and at Mapl e Leaf have reached spodumene-
type degrees of fractionation.
The Company intends on drilling newly identified targets from t he Phase 3 Program and the 10
existing target pegmatites as part of its maiden drill program in the Spring. Select highlight results
from targets identified to-date include up to 0.5% Li 2O (2,310 ppm), 1,833 ppm cesium, 120,000
ppm tantalum and 4,100 ppm rubidium.
Vancouver, British Columbia / February 21, 2024 – Usha Resources Ltd. ( “ U S H A ” or the
“Company”) (TSXV: USHA) (OTCQB: USHAF) (FSE: JO0) , a North American mineral acquisition
and exploration company, is pl eased to provide this update on i ts 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 10 week s of fieldwork as part of Phas e 3. The focus of the program was to
advance the Bingo lithium-cesium-tantalum (“LCT”) pegmatite swa rm to a drill-ready stage and further
assess the Maple Leaf LCT pegmatite swarm. A total of 727 grab samples were collected from pegmatites
and their host rocks and submitted for laboratory analysis as p art of detailed mapping and prospecting to
identify geochemical anomalies associated with lithium mineralization not visible at surface.
The existing 25 km strike length of fractionated pegmatites has been extended ~2 km further to the west
(Fig. 1), where preliminary results at Bingo have returned some of the most evolved chemical signatures
on the property. K/Rb~20; Nb/Ta <1; 4,100ppm Rb; and 954 ppm Cs.
“We are thrilled with the findi ngs from the most recent phase o f fieldwork at White Willow and are very
excited to continue to build on our success,” said Deepak Varsh ney, CEO of Usha Resources. “As seen at
Patriot Battery Metals’ Corvette Project, which has over 20 kil ometres of trend, lithium pegmatite swarms
occur in clusters, each of which has the potential to become a deposit. With 10 existing primary target areas
already identified across our 27-kilometre-plus trend, we belie ve Phase 3 will contribute significantly in
the identification of additional targets for our planned maiden program of 4,000 metres. The findings thus
far strongly validate our belief that Willow is a flagship asset where Ontario’s next major lithium discovery
will occur.”
Mr. Varshney continued: “I am gra teful to Jason Wolf, Andrew Ti ms and James Macdonald and their
respective teams for pushing themselves to the limit and working late into the season far past beyond when
most teams had quit. Their persistence has been a huge part of why Usha has been successful in the field
and we are thankful to have some of the brightest minds in this business working on this project. We look
forward to returning to the field as soon as the snow melts and building on the successes of 2023.”.
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Figure 1 - Property map of the White Willow property and extent of the pegmatite swarm.
Detailed sampling and hand stri pping have successfully identifi ed beryl and Nb-Ta oxides over an ~2 km
strike length (Fig. 2). Fractionation indicators suggest the dy kes have reached spodumene-type degrees of
fractionation. Preliminary results show lithium (Li), cesium (C s), and rubidium (Rb) elevations in the
metasedimentary host rocks around the beryl-type pegmatites with up to 450 ppm Li were returned in the
metasedimentary rocks adjacent to the largest of the beryl-type dykes.
Lithogeochemical sampling of pegmatite host rocks is one of the most common techniques to test for buried
spodumene mineralization. Pegmatites leave a recognizable chemical halo in the surrounding country rocks,
and this halo is reflective of the chemistry of the pegmatite. By sampling the country rocks in a systematic
grid, Usha plans to identify the areas of the Bingo pegmatite swarm that have the highest chance of hosting
spodumene. The preliminary results have returned up to 450 ppm Li along the margins of beryl- and
tantalum-bearing pegmatites, suggesting that the evolved pegmatites are part of a lithium enriched system.
The Bingo pegmatites display many textural similarities with sp odumene-bearing pegmatites in Ontario,
most notably a strong planar fabric and albitization of coarse K-feldspars. Beryl is present as light green to
white euhedral crystals (up to 7cm long; Fig. 3a) along ~2km of the exposed strike length.
The white colour of beryl indicates a high Cs content and sugge sts crystallization in a highly evolved
pegmatitei. Nb-Ta oxides (up to 1 cm long; Fig. 3b) are also present thro ughout the mapped strike length
of the dyke and their presence was confirmed using electron dis persive spectrometry (EDS). Apatite is
common as bright blue equant crystals up to 5mm in width. The w hite beryl and the Nb-Ta oxides are
locally associated with the partial to complete replacement of coarse K-feldspars by albite (Fig. 3c, d).
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Figure 2 - Representative textures from the Bingo pegmatites. A) Euhedral, white beryl crystals in coarse altered K-feldspar; B )
Euhedral elongate Nb-Ta oxide mienrals; C) Grab channel of mine ralogical layering showing apatite-rich albite vein; D) Grab
channel of strongly albitized coarse K-feldspar, also hosting white to beige beryl crystals.
To-date, the Company has delineated 10 high-priority drill targ ets with K/Rb ratios below 30. K/Rb is a
key tool in identifying potentially spodumene-bearing dykes. Va lues below 30 are indicative of rare-earth
pegmatites and 20 of spodumene-subtype pegmatites.
Pegmatite dykes from Phase 3 that contain positive indicator minerals (beryl or Nb-Ta oxides), prospective
fractionation indicators, or are situated in areas of anomalous Li, Cs or Rb haloes will be followed up with
more detailed prospecting, outcrop exposing, and will ultimately be a part of the Company’s maiden 4,000
metre drill program anticipated to commence in Spring 2024 that will test these new and previously
identified targets for the first time.
Quality Assurance/Quality Control
All collected rock samples were put in sturdy plastic bags, tag ged, and sealed at site. Sample bags were
then put in rice bags and kept securely before being sent by ro ad transport or delivered by the crew
supervisor to either AGAT Laboratories Ltd. or Activation Labor atories in Thunder Bay, Ontario. All
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samples are analyzed with Four-A cid 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 ne ws release has been reviewed an d 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 compan y 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 strategi c properties provides target-rich
diversification and includes Jackpot Lake, a lithium brine proj ect in Nevada and White Willow, a lithium
pegmatite project in Ontario that is the flagship among its gro wing 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 email [email protected] 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 in formation" under applicable Canadian securities
legislation. Such forward-looking information re flects 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. Read ers are cautioned that such forwar d-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 availabl e 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 expenditu res, and may not result in the discovery of mineral
deposits that can be mined profitably. Furthermo re, 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 fu ture events could differ materially from those anticipated in such
statements.
i Selway, J. et al. 2005. A Review of Rare-Element (Li-Cs-Ta) Pe gmatite Exploration Techniques for the Superior
Province, Canada, and Large Worldwide Tantalum Deposits. Exploration and Mining Geology, Vol. 14, Nos. 1-4, pp.
1-30.