Tempest Minerals Ltd (ASX:TEM) is adding to its Western Australian portfolio through the acquisition of the Five Wheels Base Metals Project in the Earaheedy region and in proximity to that area’s prominent zinc-lead-copper discoveries of Rumble Resources and Strickland Metals.
Five Wheels comprises 266 square kilometres of granted exploration-ready tenure about 146 kilometres north of Wiluna in the Warburton Mineral Field within the Nabberu region and is being acquired from MAC3 Pty Ltd.
The project at the northern edge of the Earaheedy Basin remains largely under-explored or unexplored for base metals and shares similar geology to the nearby Chinook deposit of Rumble Resources and the emerging Iroquois discovery of Strickland Metals.
Five Wheels project location.
Neighbouring discoveries
Earaheedy Basin has been explored for multiple commodities for more than 100 years due to its proximity to mining towns such as Wiluna, however, the region has been reinvigorated since Rumble Resources announced a major discovery in April 2021 at the Earaheedy Project, about 36 kilometres south of Five Wheels.
This has resulted in a globally significant, pit-constrained, maiden inferred resource estimate of 94 million tonnes at 3.1% zinc + lead and 4.2 g/t silver.
Strickland’s Iroquois Project which was revealed earlier this year also has similar styled mineralisation.
Geological similarities
Geologically, the edge of the Earaheedy region contains a major geological unconformity surrounding the edge of the basin where the recent Rumble Resources discoveries are located.
More recent work by Rumble and Strickland, however, implies that multiple key geological sequences are or have the potential to be mineralised and the prospectivity is more widespread than originally considered within the basin distal geological area.
Five Wheels simplified project geology map with RTR project (original red - current blue).
Promisingly for Tempest, this includes formations such as the Frere Formation and Yelma Formations which are known to outcrop in the Five Wheels Project area as well as large regional structures known to act as ‘feeder systems’ to the mineralisation in the south of the basin.
Acquisition details
MAC3 holds the legal and beneficial interest in 100% of the issued capital of Five Wheels Pty Ltd, which owns a 100% interest in the Five Wheels Project.
Tempest is acquiring 100% of the issued share capital of Five Wheels, free of encumbrances, and will issue to MAC3 $64,000 in fully paid ordinary shares issued at a price equal to the average of the daily VWAP of TEM shares for the 10 trading days prior to completion and pay $36,000 in cash, on completion of the transaction.
Next steps
The next steps for Tempest are:
- Completion of conditions precedent;
- Completion of share purchase agreement (expected late Q3 2023); and
- Commencement of exploration.