Summary:
The Byro Magnetite Project comprises the FE1, Byro South and Narryer prospects.
On 27 November 2025, Athena Resources announced a maiden Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate for Byro South deposit. Initial indications are that Byro South has similar metallurgical properties to FE1 indicating the potential of Byro South to enable an expansion of the Byro Magnetite Project.
The geology is predominately quartzo-feldspathic gneisses and migmatites with amphibolites, quartzites, BIF’s, felsic volcanics and layered maficultramafic intrusions. Regional folding and thrusting have resulted in a steep dominant westerly dip and north-northeast strike, although locally this varies from north to east.
FE1
Project Geology
At FE1, the local geology is dominated by granitic gneisses and migmatites bounding a discrete, northsouth magnetic anomaly representing magmatic magnetite hosted within a metamorphosed remnant of a mafic and ultramafic intrusion. The intrusive rocks have undergone a high degree of deformation and recrystallisation.
The surrounding area is flat with occasional lateritic breakaway ridges and low rocky outcrops. Lateritic ridges occur immediately to the north of FE1 and mark the contact between the mafic/ultramafic intrusive, and the surrounding granitoids. Rare outcrops of gabbro and anorthosites occur towards the top of the intrusions and may be related to magnetite bearing units. In the southern portion of the Project, it appears that much of the ferruginous duricrust and upper saprolite has been removed leaving sub cropping exposures of gneisses and migmatite.
In the immediate vicinity of FE1, the hanging wall lithology is dominated by potassium feldspar bearing granitic gneiss, while the footwall is a migmatite assemblage of granitoids and mafic sequences appearing as compositionally differing gneissic bands. Mafic units are largely altered to biotite with a siliceous groundmass, while granitoids have large K-feldspar phenocrysts proving kinematic indicators. A Proterozoic dolerite truncates the FE1 mineral deposit in a north-east to south-west orientation.
Mineralisation
Magnetite mineralisation within the host mafic lithologies occurs as moderate to heavy dissemination of relatively coarse, euhedral grains throughout the mineralised zones, often lineated where foliation is present. Mineral lineation of magnetite grains often displays small scale fold structures, with parasitic folds and kink bands. Within the highest-grade zones, heavy magnetite dissemination becomes a magnetite matrix, with semi-massive zones where the iron grade peaks. The magnetite intersected in drilling has a true width that is often >100m.
Mineralisation occurs solely within these darker, mafic bands with mineralisation terminating when in contact with the surrounding felsic granitic gneiss lithologies. The mineralisation is contiguous for over 800m of strike, dips westerly between 43 and 35 degrees extending to beyond 200m in depth.
Byro South
Project Geology
The Byro South Project area is flat with occasional breakaway ridges and extremely sparse, low, rock outcrop and is dominated by a variety of regolith types.
Laterised gneiss and migmatites outcrop to the north of the Project area and breakaways often approximate the contact between the quartzo-feldspathic rocks and layered mafic-ultramafic rocks which host the magnetite mineralisation. Layered intrusions are covered by Tertiary sediments and clays of varying thickness and rare gabbro and anorthosite outcrops may be related to magnetite bearing units.
In the south, the ferruginous duricrust and upper saprolite has been eroded, leaving subcroppping gneiss and migmatite.
Athena Resources considers that the Byro South intrusions are prospective for:
• Orthomagmatic magnetite and titanomagnetite deposits;
• Stratabound PGM-enriched sulphide and/or chromite-bearing deposits (reefs) at various stratigraphic levels in the intrusion;
• Magmatic nickel-copper-cobalt-PGE sulphide deposits in embayments along the base of the intrusion;
• Supergene (laterite-hosted) nickel-cobalt-PGM deposits.
Mineralisation
The Byro South Prospect (E09/1781) is within the Byro Project area and centered on a magnetic anomaly about 18km south-east of the FE1 magnetite deposit. The anomaly includes twin, sub-parallel magnetite units that are representative of an asymmetrical synform fold structure, of a thrust faulted repetition of the stratigraphic sequence. Mineralisation along each limb has lithogeochemical similarity, with similar magnetite grades intersected. The western limb is steep dipping, while the eastern limb is flatter at approximately 500 W. The lenses, as defined by the strongly correlated magnetic anomalies, are each approximately 700m in strike length.
The mineralisation is similar to FE1, being upper amphibolite to granulite metamorphic facies, is magmatic and hosted within mafic intrusive rocks, with heavily disseminated to matrix magnetite mineralisation. Unlike FE1, there is an enriched haematite zone near surface which may represent the opportunity for a smaller DSO grade resource overlying the main zones of magnetite mineralisation.
Dimensions
The Mineral Resource estimate for South Byro is defined along approximately 2,500 m of strike length and 2,500 m width for the central portion, to a depth of 250 m.