Expert Economists are witnessing high commodities prices across the globe, leading them to declare we’re in a “Supercycle”, which is a structural upward shift in demand and could last many years. The last major economic supercycle was back in 2002. This time around the transition to green energy is being seen as a prime catalyst. Now is the time for investment in vital industrial products geared towards this energy transition, in particular the strategic metals of copper, cobalt, and nickel.
Usha Resources Ltd. (TSXV:USHA) (OTC:USHAF) is an early-stage junior exploration company focused on developing strategic metals that are increasing in demand due to a rapidly increasing push for electrification, with high-quality copper, cobalt and nickel projects underway, including the enormous “Blue Sky” potential of its newly-acquired Green Hills project.
The Quick Rundown
- Heavy Exploration Interest in strategic metals for incoming wave of new technologies, specifically for high quality copper, cobalt and nickel projects.
- Rapidly Increasing Demand for these strategic metals:
- Goldman Sachs predicts that by 2030, copper demand will grow nearly 600% to 5.4 million tons and CIBC predicts record copper prices ($5.25/lb) by year end.[1]
- CRU forecasts cobalt demand from electric vehicles (EVs) will grow by more than 200% from 2020 to 2025, to more than 120,000 tonnes.[2]
- Nickel prices neared a 7-year high this year based on booming demand[3], while Roskill predicts Nickel demand from the EV sector will grow globally by over 2,700% by 2040.[4]
- Usha Resources Ltd. (TSXV:USHA) (OTC:USHAF) has assembled an impressive portfolio of exceptional assets with high-quality copper, cobalt, and nickel projects in a market where there is an increasing demand for these strategic metals.
- Enormous “Blue Sky” Potential on the Green Hills project (acquisition pending) with over 10,000 metres of historical drilling, that’s demonstrated exceptional results so far, including:
- 1.2 % copper, 0.036% cobalt, and 200 ppb gold over 11.7 metres of massive sulfides
- 0.15%-0.3% cobalt and up to 1.14% copper over 96.3 metres
- New modern geophysics have identified 9 untested high-priority electromagnetic anomalies ready for drilling
- Extremely Tight Capital Structure of only 15 million shares outstanding, of which +85% are held by insiders, management, and strategic shareholders
- Rare Early Mover Opportunity in areas that are seeing heavy exploration interest at a time when the company has a low market capitalization and share price
In a recent report by Platts at S&P, economists have declared that we are in what is called a “Supercycle”.[5]
“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[6]: “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.
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 explorers Usha Resources Ltd. (TSXV:USHA) (OTC:USHAF) have put together 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 management.
Now with work underway on its projects, and plenty of major news cycle items to come, USHA is at the very beginning of a potentially incredible breakout story.
In short: the timing for USHA is near PERFECT.
Let’s now take a more in-depth look at the company’s assets, and the development that is still to come.
GREEN HILLS (Acquisition Pending):
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 metres 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 metres of massive sulfides in DH WCC 4
- 0.15% to 0.3% cobalt and up to 1.14% copper over 96.3 metres in DH K-1 (note, only 1 ft was assayed for every 10 ft)
- 1.8% copper and 450 ppb gold over 1.25 metres in DH PD-1
- 19.0% zinc over 0.7 metres in DH M-1
- 19.8% zinc over 0.4 metres 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 is mineralization that 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 Mining, Sullivan Mine
Purcell Group geology
A major producer of lead, zinc, and silver
Produced 26 million tons of lead, zinc, and silver
Jervois Mining, 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.
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 totalling +5,000 acres in Mojave County in Arizona, USA.
Recent work completed by the Company has identified the following:
- 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
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 in from the area of the Copper Blowout
USHA’s plan over the coming months is to build on the existing work by completing a 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, including the Ideas Lode West vein where grab samples assayed as high as 45.4 g/t Au.
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 follow-up core drilling program in 2021.
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 metres 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 a 1,860 metre 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 metre drill program focused below the known breccia-hosted mineral zone based on our 3D model to intersect known and new mineralisation
- 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
Management, Directors, and Advisors
Usha Resources Ltd. (TSXV:USHA) (OTC:USHAF) is led by a team of experienced professionals with a track record of project building. Among the experts that fill the roster, some examples of the USHA’s pedigree includes:
Deepak Varshney, P.Geo. – CEO & Director
Deepak Varshney is a professional geologist and has over 10 years of experience in the capital markets and mineral exploration and development sector. As CEO, he’s involved in the company’s 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. He’s also the CEO of Castello Q, a boutique real estate firm that focuses on luxury single-family housing and multi-family developments and director of Xander Resources Inc., a publicly traded issuer.
Navin Varshney, P.Eng. – Director
Navin Varshney is a co-founder and director of Usha who has had a four-decade career in analyzing and speculating in the metals, mining and technology sectors. Since 2008, he has been instrumental in the creation of several Initial Public Offerings / Capital Pool Companies, successfully closing deals for all of them. He’s served on many public company boards, holding various positions from President and Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial officer, and as a Director. In his capacity as a professional engineer, he’s also led N.K.V. Engineering & Consulting Ltd., a successful boutique structural and engineering consulting firm that has provided services throughout British Columbia for the past 29 years.
Adrian Smith, P.Geo – Director & Advisor
Adrian Smith, P.Geo., B.Sc., has worked as a professional geologist for over ten years with experience working in the Mining and Exploration industries. He began working for Exploration Companies as an Underground Mine Geologist in the Shasta Gold-Silver Mine in Northern BC. He then worked with North American Tungsten Corp. at the Cantung Mine in the Northwest Territories where he was involved in successfully identifying, modeling, and producing ore in addition to known reserves. Since then Mr. Smith has taken his mining and exploration experience and applied it to exploration projects across Canada and the United States. He currently serves as CEO of ArcPacific Resources and sits on the boards of ML Gold Corp. and Go Cobalt Mining Corp., and founded Divitiae Resources Ltd.
Leif Smither – Director
Leif Smither has had a successful three-decade career in the mineral exploration industry as an investor, office, and director of multiple publicly listed companies. He brings both strong technical and management skills to the company and his experience includes a 4-year stint as the Head of Corporate Development for Starfield Resources Inc., a TSX-V Tier 1 issuer and now TSX issuer where he was involved in financing one of the largest undeveloped nickel copper deposits.
Andrew Tims, P.Geo – Advisor
Andrew Tims is a Registered Professional Geologist in Ontario and Manitoba and a Qualified Person under NI 43-101. He’s an exploration geologist with more than 30 years of experience working throughout Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, spending significant time the in Kirkland Lake-Timmins, Red Lake gold camps plus the Wabigoon area of Northwest Ontario where Usha Resources’ Nicobat Project is located. He’s worked for Major companies including Teck Resources and Hemlo Gold Mines in Hemlo gold camp, as well as junior exploration companies before joining Rainy River Resources, in 2006, as a senior exploration geologist until it was taken over by New Gold in 2013. Mr. Tims was part of the exploration team that developed the Rainy River resource from 550,000 ounces of gold in 2005 to over six million when it was acquired by New Gold. He has led and managed a number of successful exploration projects over the last 30 years covering a number of commodities including platinum group metal (reef) exploration for Aurora Platinum Corp in the far north of Ontario to kimberlite exploration in the Timiskaming structural zone for Tres-Or Resources to volcanogenic massive sulphide exploration in the western Wabigoon for Abitibi Mining Inc.
Dean Besserer, P.Geo – Advisor
Mr. Besserer has more than two decades of exploration experience working in over 50 countries including across much of Africa, often leading annual exploration budgets exceeding US$20 million. Previous clients include BHP Billiton, DeBeers and Ashton Mining. He’s a former Director of Brilliant Mining listed on the TSX-V, and was previously a partner and Vice President of APEX Geoscience Ltd. Mr. Besserer is a Qualified Person under NI 43-101 and is presently Vice-President of Exploration at Freeman Gold Corp. and Apollo Gold Corporation and General Manager of Exploration at Jervois Mining Ltd.
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SOURCES CITED:
[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2021/06/01/the-race-for-copper-the-metal-of-the-future/?sh=5954ae56319a
[2] https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/shortages-flagged-ev-materials-lithium-cobalt-2021-07-01/#:~:text=Analysts%20at%20Roskill%20forecast%20cobalt,2030%20from%20141%2C000%20last%20year.&text=CRU%20forecasts%20cobalt%20demand%20from,or%2027%25%2C%20in%202020.
[3] https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/nickel-nears-seven-year-high-with-metals-rising-on-demand-bets-1.1633159
[4] https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC123439/roskill-jrc_classi_ni_market_study_identifiers_final.pdf
[5] https://insight.spglobal.com/story/commodities-bounce-back/page/2/2?utm_source=marketo&utm_medium=email&utm_content=email-t1-body&utm_campaign=2021AdsOilAsiaCommoditiesBounceBack&mkt_tok=MzI1LUtZTC01OTkAAAF_Y207w4Ev1MX1bVXYW3qbJPO3rNkkAR1E9kin8qqd5-_UheVU9_xtIfAHGKNCYXnen-AyjHhYZCWtbh46j_Pb5v2H5SRX83JTDXFqfGIRxg21KEfL
[6] https://www.fidelity.co.uk/markets-insights/markets/global/china-commodities-the-supercycle/
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