- Forbes calls this Battery Metals Supercycle one like no other ever before
- Usha Resources has assembled an impressive portfolio of assets with high-quality copper, cobalt, and nickel projects
- The Green Hills Copper-Cobalt Project, where 10,000+ meters of historical drilling has identified 1.2% Cu over 11.3 meters and up to 1.14% Cu and 0.3% Co over 96.3 meters. Modern geophysics has identified 9 never-tested targets ready to be drilled.
- The Lost Basin Gold-Copper Project, where the Company has identified multiple targets including the Red Basin with 11.134 g/t Au in soil, the Copper Blowout with 1.53% Cu in outcrop, and the Ideas Lode West, a vein system that runs for hundreds of meters with up to 45.4 g/t Au.
- Usha has just closed its first investment tranche to begin drilling at the Lost Basin Gold-Copper Project.
- Small Capital/Share Structure of about 15 million shares outstanding and 22.7 million shares fully diluted.
- 85% of shares are owned by strategic shareholders, including 30% by management.
In a recent report by Platts at S&P, economists have declared that we are in what is called a “Supercycle”. So far in 2021, metals prices are rising as predicted.
“What is the definition of commodity Supercycle?,” says Jeff Currie, head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs. “It’s a structural upward shift in demand…and we have a structural upward shift in demand occurring.”
The last major economic Supercycle began approximately in 2002, when China began an extended period of economic growth—through a period of industrialization and urbanization that stretched through the financial crisis of 2009.
What’s causing this Supercycle to get underway?
Fidelity International analyst Toby Sims writes: “This time around, proponents saw the transition to green energy as a prime catalyst for another supercycle. Roads, bridges, rail links, solar parks and wind farms need industrial commodities, along with some precious metals like silver. Combine that with massive government stimulus packages investing in infrastructure, as well as renewed post-pandemic demand, and hopes were high that we were entering a new age for commodities.”
A new age for commodities indeed – especially battery metals.
Among the commodities that are attracting the most attention in the years to come, are those associated with the electrification of the economy such as the transition into cleaner energy, and electric vehicles.
Strategic metals are at the forefront, of which several are still in abundance in secure jurisdictions in North America, including several recognized as top places to do business in the world by the Fraser Institute.
With projects across three of these favored jurisdictions, up-and-coming
junior mining explorer Usha Resources Ltd. (USHA:TSX.V; USHAF:OTCQB) has methodically assembled an impressive portfolio of high-quality projects involving strategic metals, including copper, cobalt, nickel, gold, and silver.
Through a series of shrewd property acquisitions and backed by a team of experienced project finders and builders, Usha Resources has positioned itself strategically while keeping its share structure to an incredibly tight ~15 million shares, and maintaining +85% ownership through insiders, management, and strategic shareholders.
Now with the first investment tranche closed, Usha is ready to commence core drilling and trenching on its projects beginning with its gold-copper Lost Basin Project where they have identified the following high-priority targets:
- Red Basin: Highly anomalous soil samples were identified with 10 samples assaying over 0.2 g/t Au and as high as 11.134 g/t Au
- Copper Blowout: 4 chip samples assayed above 1% Cu and as high as 1.53% Cu over 2 m
- Mallory's Trench: Chip samples yielded gold values as high as 2.6 g/t Au over 2 m
- Ideas Lode West: An exciting new prospect where the structure containing the gold-bearing quartz veining extends for hundreds of meters and grab samples assayed as high as 45.4 g/t Au
In short: the timing for Usha is as about good as it gets.
Let’s now take a more in-depth look at the company’s assets, and the development that is still to come.
GREEN HILLS (Soon to be Officially Acquired): Copper-Cobalt-Gold-Silver Property in Montana, USA
- Targeting MAJOR potential for copper, cobalt, gold, and silver
- Prolific and proven region, previously mined from the 1800s-1940s
- Numerous past producers, present producers, and prospects in the area
- 65 unpatented claims 32 km south of Butte
- Located in a top-class mining-friendly jurisdiction with straight-forward legislation
- Year-round access with good roads
Located 32km south of Butte, Montana, the Green Hills Property is comprised of 65 claims that total over 1,342 acres.
The property’s claims came with +10,000 meters of historical drilling, including work by several majors such as BHP, Cominco, Homestake, Phelps Dodge, and Rio Tinto.
Significant drill and trench results include:
- 1.2% copper, 0.036% cobalt, and 200 ppb gold over 11.7 meters of massive sulfides in DH WCC 4
- 0.15% to 0.3% cobalt and up to 1.14% copper over 96.3 meters in DH K-1 (note, only 1 ft was assayed for every 10 ft)
- 1.8% copper and 450 ppb gold over 1.25 meters in DH PD-1
- 19.0% zinc over 0.7 meters in DH M-1
- 19.8% zinc over 0.4 meters in DH 79-1
- Up to 4.7% copper, 0.07% cobalt, and 2.3 g/t gold in trenches advanced by BHP-Utah
The land package and mineralization is interpreted to be age-equivalent and part of the same Belt Supergroup that includes the world-class past-producing Sullivan Mine in British Columbia.
Comparable targets include:
Teck Resources Ltd. (TECK:TSX; TECK:NYSE), Sullivan Mine
Purcell Group geology
A major producer of lead, zinc, and silver
Produced 26 million tons of lead, zinc, and silver
Jervois Global Ltd. (JRV:ASX), Idaho Cobalt Deposit
Purcell Group geology
Major copper, cobalt, and gold occurrence
Near-term producer
Recent airborne geophysical survey work has identified a series of high-priority anomalies on the Property (often indicative of sulphide mineralization), and numerous major and minor structures, which require follow-up exploration and possibly drilling.
USHA’s plan over the coming months is to conduct further geophysical mapping and interpretation, sampling, and other techniques in order to launch a comprehensive drill program with the goal of completing a maiden resource at one or more areas.
“We are thrilled to have acquired such a significant project at a time when the demand for cobalt and copper is increasing so dramatically,” stated Deepak Varshney, CEO of the Company. “This project checks off all the boxes – a mining-friendly jurisdiction, easy year-round access, great historic results, and world-class vendors.
LOST BASIN: Gold-Copper Project in Arizona, USA
- High-grade widespread gold grades at surface support economic mining potential
- Limited shallow drilling indicates significant zones of potentially economic bulk gold mineralization with “blue sky” potential
- Located in a top-class mining friendly jurisdiction with straight-forward legislation
- Exploration will focus on areas with little or no recorded drilling
- Year-round access with good roads
Lost Basin is a gold-copper project comprised of 133 mining claims totaling +5,000 acres in Mojave County in Arizona, USA.
Recent work completed by the Company has identified the following high-priority targets:
- Red Basin: Highly anomalous soil samples were identified with 10 samples assaying over 0.2 g/t Au and as high as 11.134 g/t Au
- Copper Blowout: 4 chip samples assayed above 1% Cu and as high as 1.53% Cu over 2 m
- Mallory’s Trench: Chip samples yielded gold values as high as 2.6 g/t Au over 2 m
- Ideas Lode West: An exciting new prospect where the structure containing the gold-bearing quartz veining extends for hundreds of metres and grab samples assayed as high as 45.4 g/t Au
The District has a history with significant gold production, including at the Climax, Bluebird, and Gold Hill (left) mines, and the nearby King Tut Placers.
What’s perhaps the most interesting fact about the region, is that the source of the placer gold has never been identified. Historic work suggests that it may originate west on the Lost Basin property.
Historical non-compliant results include:
- 65.8 g/t Au from the area of the Golden Hill Mine
- 77 g/t Au from the area of the Climax Mine
- 71.7 g/t Au from the Wall Street Workings
- 19.1% Cu from the area of the Copper Blowout
- 69% Cu over 13.7 meters
USHA’s plan over the coming months is to build on the existing work by completing an initial core drilling and trenching program over a period of four weeks that will also include soil sampling, geologic mapping, and rock sampling of these areas and other areas of interest at Lost Basin.
The primary objective of exploration will be to further develop USHA’s understanding of the nature of the gold mineralization at Lost Basin as it continues to develop targets for a larger follow-up core drilling program in 2022.
"Advancing the gold and copper stories at Lost Basin is a primary objective of ours as we move into 2022 and we are extremely excited to continue our exploration at the property," stated Deepak Varshney, CEO of USHA. "We look forward to continuing to build on the results of our Spring program as we continue to develop the Lost Basin asset."
NICOBAT: Nickel-Copper-Cobalt Project in Ontario, Canada
Nicobat is a nickel-copper-cobalt project in the Rainy River District in northwest Ontario, Canada — the same district where New Gold’s Rainy River Mine is expected to produce approximately 3.41Moz of gold through a combination of open pit and underground operations.
The Nicobat property’s highlights include:
- Active mine development in region with excellent road and rail access, power, and water
- Up to 2.6 wt% Ni and 0.17 wt% Cu above 100 meters depth in recent samples
- Nickel tenor of 3-5 wt% Ni
- Near surface mineral zone open at depth in potential feeder zone
Historic work includes over 220 drill holes and metallurgical studies on numerous bulk samples between 1952 and 1972, where:
- Stratmat Ltd. reported a non-compliant historic resource of 6.35 million short tons
- Chibtoen Copper Corporation reported a non-compliant historic resource of 5.3 million short tons grading 0.28% Cu, 0.24% Ni, including a mineral zone with 225,000 short tons grading 0.65% Cu, 0.87% Ni
In 2015, Crystal Lake Mining completed an 1,860-meter 10-hole drilling program confirming high-grade nickel-copper shoots considerably better than previously recorded in the historical drilling.
- Drill hole A-04-15 intersected from surface to 63.75 meters a weighted average of 1.05% nickel and 2.18% copper
- Of significance, the bottom 9.8 meters section averaged 1.92% Ni, 0.17% Cu, and 0.132% Co indicating that deep targets identified using a SGS geochemical survey may contain higher grades
Future work at Nicobat will focus on drilling deeper at the EL1 claim with a $250,000 program:
- 1,500-meter drill program focused below the known breccia-hosted mineral zone based on our 3D model to intersect known and new mineralization
- Complete borehole EM surveys to identify highly conductive massive sulfides.
- Follow-up drilling with a subsequent program for the best targets based on mineralization and/or EM anomalies
About BioResearchAlert: I have been an analyst and have offered financial and business consultation to companies for decades. I was one of the first Securities Analysts for Munger and Buffet in the late 1960s. I have also been providing Investor Awareness services for the past 10 years to a growing number of very pleased clients. I have learned over the years that every investment comes with risk and they key to success is identifying the risk, managing the risk, and knowing when to exit because new technologies can be so disruptive.
Cautionary Statement: Investors are cautioned that the above information and the information on the adjacent properties is taken from the publicly available sources. The Author has not been able to independently verify the information contained. The information is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on the Property, which is the subject of this article. Usha Resources will need to conduct exploration to confirm historical mineralization reported on the property and there is no guarantee that significant discovery will be made as a result of its exploration efforts. Usha Resources is in the process of compiling exploration and geological data available on the property and surrounding area to develop an exploration work plan.
Forward-looking statements: This article may include "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forward-looking information reflects current beliefs and are based on a number of estimates and/or assumptions made by and information currently available to the Public 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, labor issues, delays in obtaining governmental approvals and permits, and other risks in the mining industry.
Usha Resources 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, Usha Resources 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.
BioResearchAlert has not compensated for this article and owns no shares, warrants, options, or debt.
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