Don Smith, Managing Director, Tempest Minerals Ltd (TEM) Discusses Their Diversified Portfolio of High Potential Projects, in Western Australia, Highly Prospective for Precious, Base and Energy Metals

By Dr. Allen Alper, PhD Economic Geology and Petrology, Columbia University, NYC, USA
on 1/12/2022
We spoke with Don Smith, Managing Director of Tempest Minerals Ltd (TEM), an Australian-based, mineral exploration Company, with a diversified portfolio of projects, in Western Australia, considered highly prospective, for precious, base and energy metals. In 2021-2022, Tempest Minerals is focused on generating exploration targets and drilling, at their Euro project, situated between 3 major mines, in the Yalgoo greenstone belt, prospective for gold, base metals, and iron ore. The Company's other focus is on their Meleya gold-VMS project, also in the Yalgoo greenstone belt. According to Mr. Smith, the Meleya project represents one of the best potential upside projects in Australia today.

Tempest Minerals Ltd

Dr. Allen Alper: This is Dr. Allen Alper, Editor-in-Chief of Metals News, talking with Don Smith, who's Managing Director of Tempest Minerals, Ltd. Don, could you give our readers/investors an overview of your Company and what differentiates your Company from others?

Don Smith: We are originally a lithium explorer, in the pure sense. A little over a year ago, the Board decided to pursue a more diversified strategy and we acquired a fantastic portfolio of base metals and precious metal projects, in the Mount Magnet region of Western Australia. What differentiates us is that we have a magnificent Team, both on the Board level and on a technical level. The second part is that I think we have a very strong technology focus, which is far and beyond many or most of our peers.

Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds excellent. Could you tell us a little bit about your deposits, where they are and any details you have about them?

Don Smith: We have three main exploration fronts going. We have lithium in Western Australia, which is very early stage. We have gold in Mount Magnet, which is one of the biggest gold producing areas in Australia. We also have a large exploration portfolio, in the Yalgoo region, which is less known. It's about a five-hour drive, North of Perth, and we have about five project areas. It's all one geological sequence, but we've separated it into different geological areas, which we call projects.

There are two headline stories, at the moment. One is that we are currently drilling at the Euro Project, which is prospective for gold and base metals, as well as iron ore. In this new year, we will be drilling at the Meleya Project. The Meleya Project is a big story, in that it is 50 kilometers of the same rocks as the Golden Grove VMS camp that has never been explored before. So, no one realized that these units were where they are. So, we've essentially discovered a whole new greenstone belt.

Dr. Allen Alper: Oh, that's fantastic. Could you tell our readers/investors your plans for exploration in 2022?

Don Smith: In 2022 we'll be continuing our drilling at the Euro Project, where there's a substantial amount of historic drilling, with intercepts such as 15 meters at two grams and 20 meters at one gram, were intercepted in the early 90s and 2000s. But, that exploration was not continued, due to the gold price being $200 an ounce then, not $2,000 as it is now.

We will be drilling in that general vicinity, attempting to understand the geology a bit better and also in the medium term, hopefully generate a resource. Then from there, we will be moving onto the Meleya Project that I just mentioned, which has this fantastic opportunity for original gold and VMS deposits. We have a lot of work there. We have over 4,000 meters of drilling planned, something like that, in the next quarter or so.

Dr. Allen Alper: Oh, that's fantastic. It sounds like it'll be a great and interesting time.

Don Smith: In addition to that, we're also always doing ongoing work in the field, geological mapping and geochemistry sampling that kind of stuff. Yeah, there's a lot going on.

Dr. Allen Alper: Well, that sounds excellent! Don, could you tell us a little bit about your background? I know you're a geologist. Give us a little bit more about your Team and your Board.

Don Smith: Sure thing. I'm a geologist and I also have an MBA. I grew up in mining, my parents were in the game, so I guess the industry is in my blood. As a professional I've had a varied career. I’ve worked from the smallest through to the largest companies, and I've worked on every continent, except for Antarctica, though it is on my list of things I want to do.

In terms of the Board, we have an amazing Corporate Team there. At the top, we have Brian Moller, as our Chairman. He's a well-known entity in the mining industry, as he was the Chairman of SolGold plc, as well as an array of other Australian-listed companies. He's a high-powered lawyer in Australia as well, a partner of HopgoodGanim, one of our biggest firms.

We also have Vincent Mascolo, who's the Chairman of Atlantic Lithium, which was recently renamed from Iron Ridge. We have Andrew Haythorpe, who's a geologist and financier and the MD of GoldOz. We have Owen Burchell, who's one of Australia's best mining engineers and the MD of Abarta Resources. A fantastic Team to have really!

On the technical front we procure the services of several contract groups, including Galt Mining Solutions. The person who's leading our exploration at the moment is Dr. Margaret Hawke, who made the fairly substantial world class discovery at DeGrussa, which is owned by Sandfire Resources.

Dr. Allen Alper: That is a fantastic Team! You have a great background, and you have a very strong, accomplished group that are working with you. Your Company is in great hands and your shareholders/investors can be confident that you'll discover great things. Could you tell our readers/investors a little bit about your share and capital structure?

Don Smith: We have a modest number of shares on issue, only 397 million. All the management are major holders, and we are heavily incentivized. We have about $2 million in cash, and I'll say, unhesitatingly, that we have an almost embarrassingly low market cap that I think it's about $9 million today. Compared to the assets and the quality of the Team and everything that we have, our value is definitely lower than you would expect. I don't think the market has quite worked it out yet.

Dr. Allen Alper: Well, what you need is more exposure. It sounds like there are great projects, and a great team. Sounds like you're very undervalued to me. Could you tell our readers/investors the primary reasons they should consider investing in Tempest Minerals?

Don Smith: You probably know, through academic circles, the five Ps of strategic management. I have a similar acronym, I guess, in that we have the Ps of why to invest in Tempest Minerals. First of all is projects, I gave you a very fast summary of the exciting things we're doing geologically, with active exploration at the moment and the huge potential that we have to find not one, but multiple world class discoveries. The second P is people, we have an amazing Team and it's really a pleasure to be working with them, on a day-to-day basis. I guess a third one is potential, and we mentioned that the Company is viewed by some people as undervalued, and we think the potential for us to be something and to become much larger is very high.

Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds excellent. Don, is there anything else you’d like to add?

Don Smith: Just that this is not a lifestyle Company. We are very young and energetic, passionate and love what we do and we're out there ‘having a go’!

Dr. Allen Alper: Well, that's sounds excellent. We’ll publish your press releases, as they come out, so our readers/investors can follow your progress.

https://tempestminerals.com/

Don Smith
Managing Director
+61 892000435
info@tempestminerals.com