Tempest Minerals Ltd (ASX:TEM) has raised $8.44 million in a heavily oversubscribed placement designed to fast-track exploration at the Yalgoo, Mount Magnet and YLP project areas in WA.
Institutional and sophisticated investors joined in on the raise, while several leading domestic and international stakeholders and funds cornerstoned the placement.
Although the raise will accelerate work throughout Tempest’s portfolio, the funding runway will initially support exploration at the Yalgoo projects, including the high-profile, polymetallic Meleya discovery.
Managing director Don Smith said previously that Meleya represented “one of the best potential upside projects in Australia today”.
Positioned to scale up drilling
Speaking to the fundraise, Tempest chair Brian Moller said: “It is pleasing to receive a very positive response from high net worth, sophisticated and professional investors who see the value in our projects.
“Our recent mineralised discovery in the Yalgoo region highlights only one example of the huge potential that TEM is able to unlock.
“With a strengthened cash position, we’ll have great flexibility to scale up our drilling and other activities to provide more strong newsflow to shareholders.
“We would like to thank shareholders for their support to date and we look forward to a very exciting 2022 for the company.”
All eyes on Meleya
Tempest believes the Meleya Project is one of the foremost base and precious metal exploration opportunities in Australia today.
Meleya discovery location.
The explorer recently identified a previously unrecognised exposure, spanning more than 20 kilometres in strike, of highly prospective geology along strike from the nearby Golden Grove and Minjar mines.
Early mapping and geochemistry has confirmed the prospectivity of the area and, the company is actively exploring the region’s multiple targets.
The Meleya Zone forms part of the Warriedar Project, 400 kilometres north of Perth in the Murchison Region of Western Australia.
The project is part of the iconic Yalgoo Greenstone Belt, with outcropping supracrustal mafic and felsic ‘greenstone’ units wrapped around a number of felsic to intermediate intrusions.
These conditions are considered highly favourable for the formation of volcanogenic massive sulphides, intrusion-related gold deposits and lode hosted/orogenic vein style gold.
Speaking to the discovery, technical advisor Dr Anthony Morey said: “The identification of a previously undiscovered greenstone belt at the Warriedar project is something that happens very rarely and is an exceptional place to be on the pathway to discovery.”
The fine print
Thanks to the placement, Tempest will issue 99.3 million new shares to institutional and sophisticated investors, who bought in at $0.085 apiece.
Subscribers will also secure one free attaching option for every two shares they picked up, meaning Tempest is set to issue around 49.65 million options, excisable two years from now at $0.14, with shareholder approval.
Equities provider PAC Partners Securities served as lead manager to the placement, so it’ll secure a 6% selling fee and 12.4 million options — again, subject to shareholder approval.