Usha Resources to explore Jackpot Lake lithium project, Nevada

Usha Resources Ltd. [USHA-TSXV; USHAF-OTCQB; JO0-FSE] has begun exploration work at its Jackpot Lake lithium brine project in Clark County, southern Nevada. The company has contracted Rangefront Mining Services to provide geological services and now plans to increase the scope of its maiden drilling program.

The coming program is focused on sourcing a domestic supply of lithium in Nevada in line with President Joe Biden’s initiative: “To help make electric vehicles work, we need also to increase the production of lithium-ion batteries and we need responsible and sustainable domestic sourcing of the critical materials used to make lithium-ion batteries such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and graphite,” infrastructure implementation coordinator and senior Biden adviser Mitch Landrieu told reporters on May 2, 2022.

The permitting process is now underway following a successful site visit from USHA’s technical team to review drill sites for the construction of access roads and drill pads in preparation for drilling. USHA has increased the anticipated scope of the drill program to 2,700 metres over six holes. Plans call for drilling in late summer/early fall (pending permit approvals). The drill program is fully financed as USHA has recently completed an oversubscribed private placement for gross proceeds of $2,895,401.

Furthermore, based on its review and discussion with Rangefront and the successful completion of its oversubscribed private placement for gross proceeds of $2,895,401, the company has elected to increase the planned scope of its maiden drilling program from 900 metres over three holes to 2,700 metres over six holes to better define a NI 43-101 resource.

Deepak Varshney, CEO of Usha Resources, stated: “USHA is very excited to have begun our journey at Jackpot Lake and capitalize on our geographical advantage on US soil and to partner with the team at Rangefront. We believe they are the right team to work with and their engagement will provide us with consistency and accessibility to a variety and depth of innovative approaches that will accelerate our goals. With a well-funded treasury, we anticipate the remainder of 2022 to be an extremely active year and we look forward to a busy and productive field season at Jackpot Lake as we also proceed with our other catalysts including the Nicobat Nickel spinout.”

The Jackpot Lake lithium brine property is located 35 km northeast of Las Vegas and is comprised of 140 mineral claims that total 2,800 acres. The project is exploring a “playa” which appears to be within a closed basin that may contain potentially lithium-rich brines. The geologic model is similar to that of Albemarle’s Silver Peak Nevada Lithium Mine which has operated continuously since 1966, where sediments from lithium-rich surrounding source rocks accumulate and fill the deposit leading to a potential concentration of lithium brine due to successive evaporation and concentration events.

The project is considered to be drill-ready based on the following work which has successfully delineated a 5 x 2-km anomaly within a closed basin that suggests the presence of a highly concentrated brine with 129 core samples collected by the USGS with an average lithium value of 175 ppm with a high of 550 ppm and spectrographic and atomic-absorption analyses of 135 stream sediment samples confirming the potential for lithium mineral deposits.

Gravitational surveying has identified a closed basin, critical for ensuring brines remain within the basin without dilution from external water sources. Geophysical modelling based upon gravitational and controlled source audio magnetotellurics/magnetotellurics (CSAMT/MT) surveys has provided evidence of highly concentrated brines which are relatively near the surface. The CSAMT survey results of the Jackpot Lake Project demonstrate a large consistent body of very low resistivity – consistent with highly concentrated brine behavior – throughout the property, predominantly above bedrock depths of 625 metres.

Usha’s portfolio of strategic properties provides target-rich diversification and consist of Jackpot Lake, a lithium project in Nevada; Nicobat, a nickel-copper-cobalt project in Ontario; and Lost Basin, a gold-copper project in Arizona.