Octava Minerals Issues 8.5 Million Shares and 2 Million Performance Rights for Byro Project

• Acquisition of 100% interest in Byro Critical Minerals Project completed
• 8,506,413 ordinary shares and 2,000,000 performance rights issued under escrow
• Performance rights vest upon publication of an independent scoping study
• Byro hosts multiple critical minerals including rare earth elements and lithium
• Bioleaching testwork shows promising recoveries from black shale horizon

Completion of Byro Project Acquisition

Octava Minerals Limited (ASX:OCT) has announced the completion of its acquisition of 100% of the Byro Critical Minerals Project in Western Australia. This follows shareholder approval at a General Meeting held on 25 March 2026. In consideration for the acquisition, Octava issued 8,506,413 ordinary shares and 2,000,000 performance rights to the vendors. Both the shares and performance rights are subject to a 12-month escrow period from the date of issue.

Performance Rights and Milestone Conditions

The performance rights issued to the vendors expire on 2 April 2029 and will vest only upon the publication of a scoping study or an equivalent high-level study completed by an independent mining-related consultant over the Byro Project. The company has not provided a timeline for this study, leaving some uncertainty regarding the timing of the performance rights vesting.

Byro Project Overview and Testwork

The Byro Project covers a large sedimentary basin featuring a black shale horizon that hosts an accumulation of critical minerals including rare earth elements (REEs), lithium, vanadium, nickel, manganese, and zinc. Drilling has intersected this black shale over a strike length of approximately 25 kilometres, albeit at wide spacing.

Importantly, recovery testwork conducted by independent expert groups CSIRO and BiotaTec has demonstrated excellent recoveries of critical minerals from the black shale using bioleaching. Bioleaching is a metal extraction process that has been applied in mining for many years. Octava has indicated it will continue to optimise and upscale this process to improve metal recoveries, though no specific timelines or targets were disclosed.

Regulatory and Corporate Details

Octava also issued a cleansing notice under Section 708A(5)(e) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), confirming that the shares were issued without disclosure under Part 6D.2 of the Act. The company confirmed compliance with relevant reporting and disclosure obligations and stated there is no excluded information as defined under the Act.

This acquisition adds to Octava’s portfolio alongside its Federation project (copper, zinc, silver) and East Kimberley project (nickel and platinum group metals). The company has previously reported progress on bioleaching initiatives at Byro and exploration success at Federation, including recent drilling results revealing high-grade indium and polymetallic mineralisation Octava Minerals Revives Historic Drilling, Uncovers High-Grade Indium at Sweeney’s.

Outlook and Next Steps

While the acquisition is now complete, key uncertainties remain around the timing and outcomes of the scoping study that will trigger performance rights vesting. The company’s ongoing work to optimise bioleaching and scale up processing will be critical to unlocking value from the Byro Project’s critical minerals. Market participants will likely monitor forthcoming technical reports and updates on project development milestones closely.

Bottom Line?

Octava’s acquisition of Byro expands its critical minerals footprint, but project advancement hinges on forthcoming technical studies and bioleaching optimisation.

Questions in the middle?

• When will Octava publish the independent scoping study required to vest performance rights?
• How will bioleaching optimisation impact the economic viability of the Byro Project?
• What are the company’s plans and timelines for advancing exploration and development at Byro?