Byro

OCTAVA SIGNS AGREEMENT FOR ACQUISITION OF BYRO REE & LITHIUM PROJECT IN THE GASCOYNE REGION OF WA

In January 2024, Octava announced it had signed a binding conditional share sale agreement to purchase 100% of the shares in Byro, from the vendors (shareholders) of Byro. Byro is the registered holder of the Byro REE and Li Project, which comprises tenements E 09/2673 and E 09/2674. Octava now has 24 months from the date of execution of the binding conditional share sale agreement to undertake due diligence investigations.

Octava’s Managing Director Bevan Wakelam stated,” We are pleased to have secured an agreement to acquire this project. Previous work has identified the Permian black shales of the Byro sub basin to be metalliferous, with anomalous REE & lithium that is laterally extensive and over large thicknesses in historic drilling.

With a low-cost entry point into this highly prospective project, Octava will investigate the potential for Australia’s first, large scale sedimentary deposit of REE & lithium. Metal extraction from black shales is a proven, low-cost technology and we will immediately get to work on material characterisation and initial mineral extraction testwork and further drilling.”

BYRO

The Byro Project is located on the Byro Plains of the Gascoyne Region, Western Australia, 220km south-east of Carnarvon and 650 km north of Perth. It consists of two granted Exploration Licences – E 09/2673 and E 09/2674 – totalling 798 km².

The Byro project lies at the centre of the Byro Sub-basin of the Carnarvon Basin. The sub-basin is Permo-Carboniferous and is bound to the east by the Precambrian Yilgarn Craton margin, and to the west by extensions of the Darling Fault.

GSWA regional soil sampling (4km by 4km sample spacing) identified large anomalous halos of REO up to 540ppm & Li₂O up to 180ppm over 40km in strike length and 20km wide. The tenement area also contains five wide-spaced historic RC drillholes over a ~ 25km strike length and four ~ 1.5km spaced, historic petroleum boreholes. These have recorded anomalous lithium (200 – 430 ppm Li₂O) over large thickness (30 to 90m) and are from near surface. The sampling has also identified anomalous REE, with samples > 500 ppm TREO and > 600 ppm V₂0₅.

Permian Black shales are known worldwide for their potential to host enriched poly-metallic deposits. These deposits contain considerable tonnages of lower concentration resources of base metals, rare earths, lithium and other strategic minerals. They offer the opportunity for large-scale, low-cost mining operations capable of supplying the metals for a number of years. Octava believes the black shales at the Byro project should be examined for the same potential.

The Byro Project also has Native Title agreements in place. Nearby infrastructure includes accessibility to a commercial port (Geraldton) and power from the NW gas pipeline and future potential access to Western Australian government proposed green energy sites.