Tempest Minerals Ltd’s (TEM) maiden drillhole (WARDH72) into the company’s flagship Meleya Project in Western Australia has intersected significant visible copper sulphide mineralisation with assays pending.
WARDH72 is intermittently mineralised throughout the entire 709.1 metres but contains several zones of notable mineral enrichment including:
- 8 metres of interbedded semi-massive base metal/magnetite mineralised geological strata from 18 metres;
- 10 metres of copper bearing semi-massive sulphides within a 20 metre disseminated sulphide zone from 422 metres; and
- 18 metres of copper bearing disseminated and stringer veins within a broader ~100 metre disseminated sulphide and strongly potassic altered intrusives zone from 610 metres to end of hole.
The Meleya Project is located in the Yalgoo region of Western Australia, host to several VMS and gold projects, including one of Australia’s most successful high-grade copper-zinc and precious metal operations – the Golden Grove Mine.
Tempest announced in March 2022 that it was commencing a two-hole diamond drilling programme, co-funded by the WA State Government as part of the Exploration Incentive Scheme (EIS), designed to stimulate new mineral discoveries.
Managing Director Don Smith said the first hole in this programme was drilled to a target depth of 709m at the Orion Target (drill hole WARDH72).
This is a spectacular outcome. To make a new discovery on our very first hole into an entirely untested region far exceeds our expectations,” Mr Smith said.
“This drilling was designed to help understand the geology and to inform future exploration and we’ve actually hit multiple zones of sulphides and copper mineralisation.
“It shows our tech innovation, science and hard work are paying off.
“The team and I are very excited and just itching to get on with analysing exactly what we have here, do more drilling and continue exploring the hundreds of square kilometres of untested ground along strike we have secured.”
Second Hole In Progress
The second diamond hole in the deep hole programme (WARDH73) is currently in the final stages and works are anticipated to be completed by the end of March.
WARDH73 is offset to the southwest from WARDH72 by some 300m and is drilling stratigraphically below for a planned depth of 1,100m.
Meleya Project Background
The Meleya Project is part of Tempest Minerals flagship Yalgoo Portfolio that extends over a footprint of more than 900 sq. km (>808 sq. km granted and 107 sq. km of pending tenure).
Tempest’s team have long considered the target zones at Meleya to represent one of Australia’s most exciting greenfields base and precious metal exploration opportunities. Tempest has identified more than 50 kilometres of strike length of a previously unrecognised and unexplored segment of the Yalgoo Greenstone Belt which hosts a number of world class mines.
