This article is a sponsored feature from Mining.com.au partner Octava Minerals. It is not financial advice. Talk to a registered financial expert before making investment decisions.
A strong corporate strategy can make all the difference, and for Octava Minerals (ASX:OCT), a West Australian and Tasmanian explorer, targeting projects with a strong discovery potential to meet growing global demand for critical minerals is a core focus.
Central to this strategy is Octava’s focus on sustainability, which is a key motivator for the company and extends across its operations as it focuses on developing sustainable, mineable resources.
Federation: Historically significant, ready for present-day methods
The company’s main targets at the moment are the Federation and Byro Projects. In August 2025, Octava signed a binding conditional agreement to acquire 100% of the shares in Magnes 25, which held the Federation Copper-Zinc-Silver Project in Western Tasmania. The project itself, 12km west of the town of Zeehan, comprises two granted tenements, EL 16/2023 and EL1/2023, totalling approximately 12km2.
Managing Director Bevan Wakelam notes that the company was initially attracted to Sweeney’s Prospect due to the “significant historic intersections of sulphide mineralisation”. Drilling completed in the 1970s demonstrated mineralisation including 23m @ 1.2% copper, 1.7% zinc, 121g/t silver, and 1.17% tin from 71m.
Sampling of historical workings has now also revealed previous unrecognised and untested indium in the rock chips, with high grades of up to 860 parts per million (ppm).
Surrounded by high grade mines including MMG’s (HKEX:1208) Rosebury Mine, MetalsX’s (ASX:MLX) JV project with Yunnan Tin, the Renison Mine, and Hellyer Gold Mines’ namesake project, the full picture of the shape and tonnage potential at Federation’s Sweeney prospect is not yet understood.
Octava has already completed an electromagnetic geophysical survey at the Sweeney’s prospect to target sulphide-rich lodes. Wakelam says that this 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”.
Drilling is now underway for the first time in 50 years, with initial sample assay results due in Q1. Wakelam notes the fast-track of the drilling, “the project was acquired in early August and to be drilling four months later is a testament to the hard work by our team on the ground and the efficiency of Minerals Resources of Tasmania”.
Byro: Sustainably sourced rare earth elements
The Byro Project is a rare earth elements (REEs), lithium, and base metals project located in the Gascoyne Region of Western Australia, approximately 650km north of Perth. Octava holds two granted exploration licences here, totalling 555km2.
Wakelam notes that Octava believes “Byro contains significantly large tonnages of in situ critical minerals such as rare earths, lithium, and vanadium, and has the potential to be a large scale, long term, environmentally sustainable, bio heap leach operation”.
Extraction testwork has been done by two independent consultants, CSIRO and BiotaTec in August this year with “excellent initial recoveries” achieved using bioleaching including 68-75% for the rare earths neodymium, praseodymium, and dysprosium.
The success of this independent testwork has provided Octava with the confidence to begin their first exploration drill program at Byro. In terms of progress, Wakelam says that “we have recently completed a heritage survey at Byro, clearing the way for a drill program to commence in the coming weeks”.
Biomining and bioleaching – Sustainable extraction for the industry
Octava notes that bioleaching has direct and distinct sustainability and operational advantages over traditional metals extraction methods. With sustainability as a key motivator for Octava, using biomining and bioleaching are ways for the company to remain true to their core strategy of developing sustainable, mineable resources.
Wakelam says that this focus on sustainability is so critical as “companies need to be able to supply these critical minerals, but it has to be done in a way that minimises harm to the environment”. He also adds that, contrary to popular beliefs, being more sustainable doesn’t have to mean higher costs – in fact, Octava is demonstrating that this is not the case.
In case you’re not familiar with these processes, biomining is where metals are leached from the ore as a result of microbial action. Micro-organisms, such as bacteria, fungi, or plants, drive their energy for growth through the oxidation of reduced compounds, such as metals sulphides found in the ore.
These microorganisms can also excrete compounds that break down the metal-containing chemical complexes with ores and can therefore separate the metal from the ore. Black shales are the preferred hosts for biomining due to their high sulphide content.
Biomining has already been used on a large-scale to extract a variety of metals, including nickel, copper, and gold. Companies can grow large-scale cultures to separate metals which can then be converted into marketable metal compounds. A key example of biomining includes Terrafame’s Talvivaara mine in Finland.
Bioleaching is a form of extraction that offers clear sustainability and operational advantages over traditional methods, including reduced chemical use and the elimination of highly toxic chemicals, and greater energy efficiency. Bioleaching actually consumes up to 90% less energy than conventional production methods, operating at ambient temperatures and, therefore, reducing the energy needed for heating.
In August 2025, Octava appointed biomining experts, BiotaTec, to carry out initial bioleaching test work at Byro. REEs, lithium, and vanadium were successfully extracted at high recoveries using three different microbial cultures.
Wakelam notes the significance of these initial test results from BiotaTec noting, “they are encouraged by what they have seen from their initial work with the Byro materials, stating that with further refinements, there is good potential to further increase recoveries.”
“The grades and type of material used in BiotaTec’s testwork are typical of that seen in the wide-spaced historic diamond drilling within the Byro sub-basin over a strike length of ~30km. That’s why we believe the Byro Project has the potential to be a key large-scale, low-cost supplier of critical minerals in Australia.”
Following these results, in October 2025, Octava appointed CSIRO to conduct their own bioleaching test work which confirmed the earlier bioleaching recovery rates by BiotaTec.
Wakelam noted that the results from these two independent testwork cases were successful in their results and that this gave them the confidence to take 100% ownership in Byro.
The company envisages a path to production at Byro for a large-scale, low-grade deposit, using cost-effective heap leaching and microbial biomining as the extractant to supply critical minerals to the market.
Critical minerals: Australia’s place as a global supplier
Octava continues to develop its key projects with a view of becoming a global supplier in the key minerals needed to meet growing demand. As global markets continue to reduce their reliance on a single source, new opportunities are coming in for Australian companies to enter the critical minerals supply chains.
Wakelam is “very positive” on the supply and demand fundamentals for the critical minerals that Octava has in its portfolio.
“On the supply side, we see increasing challenges in developing new projects. There are longer timeframes and higher costs meaning new supply to the market will take longer and be more expensive and support prices,” Wakelam says.
On the demand side, Wakelam sees “strong future demand fundamentals in all the commodities we are targeting. Continued economic growth in developing countries combined with the ongoing energy transition requirements in manufacturing of EVs, solar, wind, and nuclear energy.”
2026: What can we expect?
Octava has big plans for 2026, with drilling to continue at Sweeneys with initial assay results expected this quarter. They also plan to commence work on the Anomaly 1 zinc-silver-tin prospect, just to the northeast of Sweeney’s.
The company will be conducting exploration drilling at Byro, receiving tonnage and grade information as well as more sample material for larger-scale testwork.
Write to Amy Rotman at Mining.com.au
Images: Octava Minerals
