“Gimme fuel, gimme fire, gimme that which I desire.”
The Metallica song Fuel is one Tempest Minerals (ASX:TEM) Managing Director Don Smith has listened to many times. It’s the battle cry for his team when they descend on the prospects within the company’s Yalgoo Project.
The band has a back catalogue of songs such as Battery, Iron Man, It’s Electric, and Metal Militia.
Speaking to Mining.com.au ahead of World Rock Day this Saturday (13 July), Smith says he has subtly named some of Tempest’s prospects in the Yalgoo region after Metallica songs “because it is one of my favourite bands”.
The ecstasy of gold
The company has a number of precious, base, and energy metals projects. The Metallica references are mostly centred on the Meleya area within Yalgoo.
The Yalgoo Project comprises the Meleya, Messenger, War West, and Euro targets — prospective for copper, gold, base, and precious metals — and all have an underlying link to Metallica.
Tempest’s Remorse target is located on the eastern side of its flagship Yalgoo Project. It is a promising 4km long coincident base metal and geophysical target which has shown great potential and recent activities reinforced optimism about its prospects.
No Remorse was first performed by Metallica in August 1982.
Smith says in the mining industry it is common to use a theme or thematic for a group of mines, deposits, or exploration targets.
“We have themes for all the different projects we have,” Smith says.
However, Tempest’ currently only has a music element to one project area. Smith says the company does plan to use another band as a theme in the future.
In the ‘Rock Talk’ podcast, Coda Minerals (ASX:COD) CEO Chris Stevens says he’s also involved in this ‘Metallica tribute act’, with Don Smith, who he describes as a guitarist and martial artist.
Smith, who is currently in the process of making a new band, says his passion for music began during his teenage years.
“I had sports and martial arts on one side, but there is a limit of how much you do before your body starts to break apart. I was lucky I found another outlet, which was music,” he says.
He adds that it is difficult to balance working in the mining industry while also pursuing your passion due to a lot of travelling.
“It can be difficult because you’re always in different places. I have lived on every continent and travelled to dozens of countries in my career, so it’s difficult to be in a band that has that discipline that you need to have week in and week out — practicing and playing together.”
Not only does Smith have a passion for music, but he has a plethora of knowledge in how music and sounds are made, as well as the materials needed to make musical instruments.
“All metals are used and all instruments have metals,” he says.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Tempest Minerals
