Tempest Minerals Ltd (TEM), Western Australian Focused Exploration Portfolio, about 1,000 Square Kilometers, Highly Prospective, Copper, Gold, and Lithium; Don Smith, Managing Director Interviewed

By Dr. Allen Alper, PhD Economic Geology and Petrology, Columbia University, NYC, USA
on 8/9/2022
We spoke with Don Smith, who is 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. The Company's 1,000 square kilometers exploration portfolio holds high prospectivity, for a number of commodities, including copper, gold and lithium. Tempest's main focus currently, is the Yalgoo Region, at their Meleya Project, where two recent one-kilometer-deep holes have intersected a brand-new geological belt, highly prospective for gold and base metals. Near-term plans include several geophysical programs, an airborne survey, and testing a number of targets, along the new belt.

Tempest Minerals Ltd

Dr. Allen Alper: This is Dr. Allen Alper, Editor-in-Chief of Metals News, talking with Don Smith, who is Managing Director of Tempest Minerals. Don, could you give us an overview of your Company? I know you've had new drill results, could you update us on that and your plans for the rest of the year?

Don Smith: Tempest Minerals is an Australian listed company. We currently have a Western Australian focused exploration portfolio, of about 1,000 square kilometers. Within that portfolio, we have high prospectivity, for a number of commodities, including copper, gold, and lithium. We've been doing a lot of work, of late, on our main focus, which is the Yalgoo Region, at our Meleya Project.

We recently had some drill results, where we drilled two, quite deep, holes, up to one kilometer deep, into a brand-new geological belt, which we believe is highly prospective, for gold and base metals. Both of those holes encountered anomalous sulfides and visible copper mineralization. That certainly has given us some market attention, of late, and we're busily processing that information and waiting on results from the laboratory.

Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds fantastic. That's great. Could you tell our readers/investors, a little bit more about the region you're in and why it's so important and also your exploration plans for the rest of the year?

Don Smith: The Yalgoo Region, which is about five hours north of Perth, via the highway, is quite a famous region. It was one of the first places, in Western Australia, where gold was discovered. Since then, there's been a lot of work. In the 70s and 80s there were several major discoveries there. The Yalgoo Region, now has half a dozen world class mines, covering everything from copper-zinc to tungsten, iron ore and of course, gold.

We reentered this area in about 2017, 2018, because it has fantastic infrastructure. It has road, rail, power, water, and telecoms. It's quite a pleasant place to do exploration. We went in there, because we noticed that there was some activity in the area, by prospectors that were finding gold in places that didn't match the historic geological maps. We went in there and did a lot of work and we realized that the geology is quite different from that which has been previously discussed in the literature and by industry. We have rewritten that entire geological belt. That was part of this drilling, that we just did, drilling that new geological interpretation, which has now been proven.

As for what we have coming up, in the next year, or till the end of this year, we have several geophysical programs planned. We're currently doing a down-hole geophysics, on the two drill holes that we recently completed. We're going to be doing some airborne geophysics and then we're going to be getting straight back, into further drilling. We're going to be testing a number of targets, along this new belt, that we've uncovered.

Dr. Allen Alper: Well, that sounds like an exciting time for Tempest Minerals. Don, could you refresh the memories of our readers/investors and tell them a bit about your background, your Team and your Board?

Don Smith: We have a great Board. At the Head of the Company, we have the well-known individual, Brian Moller, who is famous for SolGold and many other companies that he's been involved with. We also have Andrew Haythorpe, who's a geologist and an investment banker, and we have Owen Burchell, who is quite a well-known mining engineer and corporate, here in Perth.

I'm a geologist by trade, but I also have a business degree, MBA and a number of other qualifications. I really love the industry, I'm highly passionate about it and we really like to get in there and get things done. From the management perspective, we have a number of people working for us on our Team, including our newly appointed Exploration Manager, Dr. Anthony Morey. He previously worked with us, as a consultant. In fact, he designed the drill holes that we recently drilled. He's worked in a number of high-profile work environments, around Australia and internationally. He has recently returned to the Company as Exploration Manager, to head up the exciting work that we're doing.

Dr. Allen Alper: It sounds like you have a very competent, experienced Team. That's great. Could you tell our readers/investors about your share and capital structure?

Don Smith: We have circa five 500 million shares on offer, so we're still relatively tight, compared to many of our peers. We have a number of major shareholders, in the Company, or who have a few percent of the Company, including myself. I'm either the number one or two, depending on the day, so we're very invested in what we do. We are always pushing to increase the value of that. While we still have a relatively tight structure, you can see our market capitalization has increased, at least fivefold, in the last couple of months.

Dr. Allen Alper: Well, that's excellent. It's great to get recognition on the marketplace and for the Management to be aligned with shareholders and have skin in the game. So that's excellent. Don, could you tell our readers/investors, the primary reasons they should consider investing in Tempest Minerals?

Don Smith: I have a running answer to that question, which I've given in many interviews. Similar to the five P's of Strategic Management in business. I have a number of P's, which I think are the reasons that investors should invest in Tempest. First of all, you've touched on one or two of them already. One is the people. We have a great Team, and we intend to make this quite a serious enterprise. Two is the projects. I think I've outlined, some of the exciting stuff going on. Along with projects, is potential. We have half a dozen world class ore bodies, in this region already. There's a very good chance that we'll find more. The potential is always very important as well.

Dr. Allen Alper: Oh, that sounds great. Is there anything else you would like to add, Don?

Don Smith: No, I think everyone should just stay tuned and look out for exciting news that's coming out, as it appears.

Dr. Allen Alper: Well, that sounds great. I'll be looking forward to updating our readers/investors, as you generate more information. Again, I think your Company has great potential and is very worthy of investment, particularly following your new discoveries and as you make more. You're sitting in a very prospective, very rich, very huge mineral-rich region.

Don Smith: Thanks very much, Al. I appreciate that and I agree with you.

Dr. Allen Alper: 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
info@tempestminerals.com