Usha Resources Ltd (TSX-V:USHA) has said the second drill hole (JP22-2) of its maiden drill program at the Jackpot Lake Lithium Brine Property located in Clark County, Nevada, has confirmed a brine-forming environment.
The company said the drill is now at the 231-metre level and its exploration team has encountered similar stratigraphy to the core observed from its first hole (JP22-1), where multiple zones of evaporite crystals are present as interbeds, veining, and inclusions within lacustrine sediments comprising clays, silts, and sands.
The presence of evaporite crystals within both JP22-1 and now JP22-2 further supports the presence of a brine-forming environment throughout the Dry Lake Basin as crystallization of evaporites would not occur in a freshwater system and JP22-2 is located approximately 2.75 kilometres north-northwest of JP22-1.
READ: Usha Resources stakes claims totalling 5,914 acres surrounding the optioned claims at Jackpot Lake
Furthermore, based on the evidence observed, the company believes that there is a strong potential for similar stratigraphy to be observed within its newly staked claims whereby the company strategically expanded its control from 140 to 442 claims totalling approximately 35.3 square kilometres (km2) or 8,714 acres.
“We are pleased with the drilling completed so far in JP22-2” said Deepak Varshney, CEO of Usha Resources in a statement. “Demonstrating continuity within the first two drill holes of our project is a key finding that continues to support that Dry Lake, within which Jackpot is hosted, is a similar geologic setting to that of Clayton Valley."
"These evaporites show that the basin has undergone a long geologic period of successive accumulation and concentration events which is the model for deposition at Albemarle’s Silver Peak Nevada Lithium Mine. The information identified continues to help us build our model of the basin and we look forward to seeing the stratigraphy within the rest of our second hole as drilling continues," he added.
Usha's Jackpot Lake Lithium Brine Property is located 35 kilometres northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, and is comprised of 442 optioned and staked mineral claims that total 8,714 acres (approximately 35.3 km2).
The project’s geologic setting is similar to that of Albemarle’s Silver Peak Nevada Lithium Mine, the only producing lithium mine in North America, 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. Considering the elevated lithium concentrations identified in historic soil samples, such events could theoretically concentrate lithium as rainwater passes through these materials, developing enriched brines at depths.
The company has permitted 2,700 metres over six holes and has commenced a maiden drill program with the goal of defining a 43-101 resource. The project target was identified based on geophysical studies and 129 core samples collected by the USGS with an average lithium value of 175 parts per million (ppm) with a high of 550 ppm. Samples from the first hole of its drilling program have identified lithium as present at a grade of up to 300 ppm within ten samples collected from shallow surface soils (more than 442 foot). The present average grade for Albemarle’s project is approximately 121 ppm.
Modelling indicates that the project target comprises the entirety of the company’s core optioned claim block (2,800 acres; 11.3 km2) and is open in all directions for expansion. The target is shallow, predominantly above bedrock depths of 600 metres, and is approximately 450 metres thick. The total basin within which the target is situated is estimated to be approximately 10,900 acres of which the company now controls 8,714 acres.
Usha Resources is a North American mineral acquisition and exploration company focused on the development of quality battery and precious metal properties that are drill-ready with high-upside and expansion potential.
Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, 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.
Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com