Octava Minerals (ASX:OCT) has marked Q1 2026 to bring the completion of diamond drilling at the Sweeney’s prospect within the greater Federation Project in Western Tasmania, closing the asset’s first drilling campaign undertaken since the late 1970s.
Speaking to Mining.com.au, CEO Bevan Wakelam describes Federation Project, along with the Byro Project in Western Australia, to provide “excellent exposure to commodities that have a strong demand outlook for the foreseeable future”.
“Demand that is driven by the energy transition, electric vehicles, AI, and continued economic growth in developing countries will see continued upward movement in commodity prices,” Wakelam says.
“Also, what we are seeing in critical minerals markets, having one dominant global player controlling much of what is available for export, creates a market imbalance and increased supply risk.
“This market dominance gives significant discretion over supply chains and, as we have already seen, allows the implementation of export restrictions on certain critical minerals, resulting in major disruptions.
“Policitcal leaders worldwide are actively seeking alternate suppliers. Australian companies are well placed to do this.”
Octava expects to receive sample assay results in early 2026 to allow the company to determine tonnages and grades of copper, zinc, silver, tin, and indium found at the Sweeney’s prospect.
As reported by Mining.com.au, historical intersections recorded of sulphide mineralisation at Sweeney’s include 23m @ 1.2% copper, 1.7% zinc, 121g/t silver and 1.17% tin from 71m.
The company will also have completed an airborne electromagnetic survey across the entirety of the project, which will provide sulphide targets for further drilling.
“The recent electromagnetic geophysical survey has demonstrated the effectiveness of the technique to directly target sulphide rich lodes, not only at Sweeneys, but elsewhere on the Federation Project, where EM geophysics has never been used before,” Wakelam adds.
“Sweeney’s was historically interpreted as a greisen style tin system of deposit, a style of mineralisation that is not generally considered conductive for electromagnetic surveys.
“We received an excellent response to the electromagnetic survey over the Sweeney’s area, with a strong conductive response, indicating good connectivity between the sulphide minerals.”
Over at the Byro Project, the company is looking to complete exploration drilling to uncover the “potential size of the opportunity”.
“We think the tonnage numbers are going to be big,” Wakelam tells this news service.
“The drilling will also provide sample material to commence larger scale bioleaching testwork.”
Octava has been working on a heritage clearance survey at Byro to end 2025, as a key part of the approvals process for drilling in the new year.
Octava Minerals is a Western Australian explorer focused on targeting copper, base metals, and rare earths.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: Octava Minerals
