Overview
If you’re an investor, consider the outlook for 2022 to be ideal for the strategic metals industry, most notably copper. The world’s latest reports are signifying a strong year for mining production, with experts projecting YoY growth rates of one to four percent. But what’s driving this increased demand?
When looking at global mine production, investors should also consider that the rise of the electric vehicle sector has caused a significant swell in the copper market, further evidenced by a US$1.2 trillion infrastructure bill laid out in Q4 of 2021. All of this data combined suggests that the copper industry is primed for further growth in 2022.
All the above is good news for investors interested in Usha Resources (TSXV:USHA, OTCQB:USHAF). Usha Resources is a strategic mining exploration company that is heavily focused on copper, nickel, and cobalt production. The company has several projects involving high-grade copper and nickel in Arizona, Montana, and Ontario, all of which are considered some of the best mining jurisdictions in the global mining industry.
According to recent news, Usha Resources is heading into 2022 well-capitalized after closing a non-brokered private placement. The company successfully raised an impressive US$1,889,130 at the end of 2021, significantly improving its balance sheet.
“We are very pleased with the outcome of our fundraising efforts in the quarter,” stated Usha Resources CEO Deepak Varshney. “The proceeds will provide the company with excellent financial footing and flexibility as we move into 2022. We are grateful for the ongoing support and very much look forward to an exciting year ahead.”
Add this to the fact that world-renowned geologists Andrew Tims (P.Geo), Adrian Smith (P.Geo) and Dean Besserer (P.Geo) lead Usha’s technical teams, and the prospects are looking good. They are some of the most experienced advisors in the mining exploration game.
Andrew Tims, P.Geo. (Technical Advisor) is no stranger to the mining industry, having worked for notable names like Teck Resources, Hemlo Gold Mines and Rainy River Resources. Andrew’s role in Usha Resources projects is vital because he was involved in the Rainy River project, where he took them from 550,000 ounces of gold to more than six million.
Dean Besserer, P.Geo. (Technical Advisor) served as partner and vice president of APEX Geoscience. Currently, he serves as vice-president of exploration at Freeman Gold Corp. and Apollo Gold Corporation, as well as General Manager of Exploration at Jervois Mining.
Usha presently has two high-quality projects, the Lost Basin Copper-Gold Project in Arizona (ranked #2) and the Nicobat Nickel Project in Ontario (ranked #20), and is in the process of acquiring a third, the Green Hills Project, which is a high-grade cobalt-copper operation in a high-quality mining-friendly jurisdiction in Montana with 10,000 meters of historical drilling available. Green Hills is an exciting project because geophysical reports suggest copper sulfide mineralization signifying “blue sky” possibilities for copper investments.
Together all three assets will form an exceptional investment package. There is a significant advantage of testing new targets alongside historic extensions, especially when the property is in an area with several past-producing mines, and Usha Resources ticks off the boxes.
The share structure is high-quality, with 85 percent of shares in the bank, 30 percent of which is held by management, signifying a committed focus on long-term strategic success.
Company Highlights
- Mining industry projections are solid for 2022, with YoY growth rates expected to increase from one to four percent this year, representing a three percent increase
- The rise of the electric vehicle sector has caused a significant swell in the copper market, a claim backed by a US$1.2 trillion infrastructure bill laid out for the copper sector in Q4 of 2021.
- Usha has projects involving high-grade copper, cobalt and nickel in Arizona, Montana, and Ontario, some of the highest jurisdictions rates in the global mining industry.
- World-renowned geologists Andrew Tims (P.Geo), Adrian Smith (P.Geo) and Dean Besserer (P.Geo) lead Usha’s technical teams. They are some of the most experienced advisors in the mining exploration game.
- The share structure is high-quality, with 85 percent of shares in the bank, 30 percent of which is held by management, signifying a focus on long-term strategic success.
Key Projects
Green Hills (Acquisition Pending)
The Green Hills Project is located in Montana, USA, 32 kilometres south of Butte. It’s located in a top-tier mining-friendly jurisdiction with no legislative hurdles. The property has over 10,000 meters of historical drilling spanning 65 unpatented claims.
The Fraser Institute ranks Montana as the 33rd top mining jurisdiction globally. Green Hills has been a popular mining hub since the 1800s, with a significant number of producers in the area still mining copper, cobalt, gold and silver. Green Hills spans a 20-kilometre gossanous zone, and technical reports suggest that sediments are part of the Belt Supergroup, including the famous Sullivan Mine in British Columbia.
Recent geophysical reports reveal the property has “high-priority electromagnetic anomalies,” suggesting copper sulfide mineralization. In total, the property boasts more than 10,000 meters of historical drilling by BHP, Cominco, Homestake, Phelps Dodge and Rio Tinto. Noteworthy drill and trench results include:
- 1.2 percent copper, 0.036 percent cobalt and 200 ppb gold over 11.7 meters of massive sulfides in DHWCC4.
- 0.15 percent to 0.3 percent cobalt and up to 1.14 percent copper over 96.3 meters in DH K-1
- 1.8 percent copper and 450 ppb gold over 1.25 meters in DH PD-1
- 19.0 percent zinc over 0.7 meters in DH M-1
- 19.8 percent zinc over 0.4 meters in DH 79-1
- Up to 4.7 percent copper, 0.07 percent cobalt and 2.3 gold in trenches advanced by BHP-Utah.
Usha Resources has implemented a robust development strategy from 2021 through 2024, which adds to the current geophysical research via mapping, interpretation, and sampling with the end goal of a specific drilling program. The team targets pristine and high-grade areas to gather widespread mineralization to maximize low-cost production. The first phase lays out plans to prioritize new targets using a variety of methods, while the second phase (2022 through 2023) follows up with a 6,000-meter drill program budgeted for US$2 million.
Lost Basin Property
The Lost Basin Property is a 133 mine exploration in Mojave County, Arizona, southwest of Las Vegas. Like Usha Resource’s other projects, Lost Basin Project is a top-class mining-friendly jurisdiction with minimal to no legislative obstacles. Mining operations can operate year-end and enjoy ideal road access.
Lost Basin is an excellent location for mining because previously conducted tests (shallow drilling) express the possibility of economical bulk gold mineralization, a consideration supported by extensive “high-grade gold grades at the surface.” Investors should also consider the project is focused on mining areas with almost minimal drilling exposure, all of which signify tremendous upside potential.
Gold mines have been in the Lost Basin area since the 1870s, but with minimal extraction. Additionally, visible gold was discovered at the Lost Basin property. Findings included a non-compliant sample that assayed 567 to 3,118 g/t. Other historical non-compliant results include:
- Golden Hill Mine: 65.8 g/t gold
- Climax Mine: 77 g/t gold
- Wall Street Workings: 71.7 g/t gold
- Copper Blowout: 19.1% copper.
The size of the potential gold mineralization area is approximately equivalent to Fort Knox Mine in Alaska and the Hammond Reef Deposit in Ontario.
Last year Usha finished Phase 1, including data collection for more than 194-line kilometres, a mineral alteration mapping survey, a review of historical geological findings, GIS digitization and historic data orientation. Scientists gathered hundreds of rock samples and nearly 50 soil samples for further analysis. The results identified assays at Mallory’s Trench (2.6 g/t gold over 2 meters), Copper Blowout (above 1 percent copper and as high as 1.53 percent copper over 2 meters copper), Ideas Lode West (as high as 45.4 g/t gold) and highly anomalous gold values with five samples.
The next phase of the Lost Basin Project will include 1,500 metres of drilling along with further soil/rock sampling, trenching, and geologic mapping in the Copper Blowout – Red Basin vicinity.
Nicobat Project
The Nicobat Project is a nickel-copper-cobalt operation located in the Rainy River District in northwest Ontario, Canada. Nicobat has access to critical infrastructure, including roads, railways, power, and water facilities.
Nicobat is located in an active mine area where recent samples displayed up to 2.6 wt% nickel and 17 wt% copper above 100 meters. Scientists also found nickel tenor of 3-5 wt% nickel and a near-surface mineral zone open at depth in the potential feeder zone.
Between 1952 and 1972, researchers drilled more than 15,000 metres in 220 holes. They conducted metallurgical studies on bulk samples, revealing a non-compliant historical resource of 6.35 million short tons (Stratmat Ltd.). They also found a non-compliant historical resource of 5.3 million short tons grading 0.28 percent copper and 0.24 percent nickel according to a Chibtoen Copper Corporation report. Right now, Nicobat has two geology and exploration targets. The first consists of higher-grade mineralization areas in the breccia pipes’ roots at depths greater than 150 meters. The second target is composed of basal concentrations of magmatic sulfides at the foot of the Dobie Intrusion.
Recent exploration work includes over 4,000 metres of drilling that has confirmed high-grade nickel-copper shoots do exist and are considerably better than previously recorded in the historical drilling, with drillhole A-04-15 intersecting from surface to approximately 63.75 metres a weighted average of 1.05% nickel and 2.18% copper that included an approximately 9.8-metre interval of 1.92% Ni from 53.95 to 63.75 metres.
The targeted feeder conduit measures approximately 305 metres by an average of 60 metres in width to a depth of 245 metres that is potentially open at depth and down-plunge to the north and is composed of cumulate textured olivine gabbro. This magma conduit sits in a larger norite body at the base of the Dobie Gabbro. The historical assessment data records high-grade “ribs”, one of which includes the zone described above. Future work will, therefore, focus on making the historic resource compliant current and expanding on the work completed to assess for other high-grade “ribs” and the potential high-grade feeder zone as shown in the model below.
Recently, Usha announces its intention to transfer the Company’s Nicobat Nickel property to a newly formed subsidiary SpinCo and subsequently spin out the shares of SpinCo to Usha’s shareholders.This planned strategy allows Usha to streamline its focus and shareholders to participate in and benefit from the creation of a new battery-metals focused exploration company.
Management Team
Deepak Varshney, P.Geo. –
CEO & Director
Deepak Varshney is a professional geologist with over ten years of experience in capital markets, mineral exploration and development. As CEO, he is involved in marketing, financing and corporate development. He has developed long-standing relationships with an extensive network of high net worth retail investors, brokers, and private equity groups and has been responsible for raising millions of dollars in equity financings
Khalid Naeem, CPA, CGA –
CFO
Khalid Naeem is a Canadian Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) with over 15 years of financial and executive experience. Mr. Naeem has extensive experience in tax and compliance, public and private enterprises’ financial policy, management and internal financial reporting, including senior roles at junior mining and oil and public gas companies and the Canada Revenue Agency.
Navin Varshney, P.Eng. – Director
Navin Varshney is a co-founder and director of Usha who has had a four-decade career analyzing and speculating in the metals, mining and technology sectors. He has significant experience specializing in developing, structuring and financing venture capital companies and
Since 2008, has been instrumental in creating several Initial Public Offerings / Capital Pool Companies, successfully closing deals for all of them. He has served on many public company boards, holding various positions from President and Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Director.
Adrian Smith, P.Geo. – Director
Adrian Smith has over 10 years of experience working in the mining and exploration industries including time as an underground mine geologist. He is currently CEO of ArcPacific Resources and serves the boards of many public companies including ML Gold Corp. and Go Cobalt Mining Corp.
Dave Ellett – Director
David “Dave” Ellett is a former defenseman in the National Hockey League who enjoyed a successful 16-year career primarily playing for the Winnipeg Jets and Toronto Maple Leafs. During his NHL career, he co-founded ProIce Management, a wealth management company geared towards professional athletes. Since retiring from the NHL, he has spent 20 years in the capital markets and mineral exploration and development sector among other business ventures, including owning and managing an automotive dealership, and a CHL franchise. His experience includes serving as a director of several junior mining companies focusing on logistics, fundraising, and project acquisition.
Leif Smither – Director
Leif Smither has had a successful three-decade career in the mineral exploration industry as an investor, officer, and director of multiple publicly listed companies. He brings strong technical and management skills to the company. His experience includes a 4-year stint as the Head of Corporate Development for Starfield Resources, a TSX-V Tier 1 issuer and now TSX issuer where he was involved in financing one of the largest undeveloped nickel-copper deposits.