8. Stock Options

The Company has a Stock Incentive Plan (the "SIP"), that authorizes the granting of stock options up to 10 percent of the total number of issued and outstanding shares of common stock, that provides for the grant of stock options, incentive stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock awards, and incentive awards to eligible individuals including directors, executive officers and advisors that have furnished bona fide services to the Company not related to the sale of securities in a capital-raising transaction. On December 10, 2024, the Company's shareholders, at their Annual Meeting, ratified and reapproved the Stock Option Plan.

There were no stock options awarded in 2024. On March 25, 2024, 1,325,000 options expired.

On February 7, 2025, the Company issued 3,045,000 stock options to officers and directors of the Company. The options are exercisable on or before February 7, 2030, and have an exercise price of $0.10. The options were fully vested upon grant. The fair value of the options was determined to be $325,815 using the Black Scholes model. As the options were fully vested at issuance, the entire fair value was recognized as share-based compensation expense, included as part of management and administrative expenses on the Statement of Operations, for the period ended December 31, 2025. The Company recognized $10,700 in compensation expense for share-based payment awards issued to non-employees as part of the total compensation expense recognized during the same period.

On June 18, 2025, the Company granted 2,295,000 stock options to certain officers and directors. The options are exercisable at $0.20 per share and expire on June 18, 2030. The options were fully vested upon grant. The fair value of the options was determined to be $445,230 using the Black-Scholes valuation model. As the options were fully vested at issuance, the entire fair value was recognized as share-based compensation expense during the period December 31, 2025. This expense was included in management and administrative expenses on the Company's Statement of Operations. The Company recognized $39,000 in compensation expense for share-based payment awards issued to non-employees as part of the total compensation expense recognized during the same period. On October 1, 2025, the Company's Board approved the recission of the stock options granted on June 18, 2025, to all directors, except for management, reducing the options from 2,295,000 to 450,000.

On October 1, 2025, the Company issued 1,000,000 stock options to Olivier Tielens. The options are exercisable on or before October 1, 2030, and have an exercise price of $0.25. The fair value of the options was determined to be $353,000 using the Black Scholes model. The options were fully vested upon grant and the entire fair value was recognized as share-based compensation expense, included as part of management and administrative expenses on the Statement of Operations, for the period ended December 31, 2025.

The fair value of each option award was estimated on the date of the grant using the assumptions noted in the following table:

		October 1, 2025			June 18, 2025			February 7, 2025
Stock price	$	.37		$	0.20		$	0.11
Exercise price	$	0.25		$	0.20		$	0.10
Expected volatility		163.7%			167.2%			170.7%
Expected dividends		-			-			-
Expected terms (in years)		5.0			5.0			5.0
Risk-free rate		3.68%			3.98%			4.33%

During the year ended December 31, 2025, a total of 1,950,000 options expired, including 1,630,000 options that expired on March 29, 2025. The remaining expirations relate to options previously granted to former consultants that were not exercised within the contractual post-termination exercise period.

The following is a summary of the Company's options issued and outstanding under the SIP:

 

The average remaining contractual term of the options outstanding and exercisable at December 31, 2025, was 3.5 years. At December 31, 2025, options outstanding and exercisable had an aggregate intrinsic value of $3,566,875 based on the Company's stock price of $0.725 at December 31, 2025.