Cobra Assays Extend Manna Hill Copper Across 3 Zones: 7 Things to Know

First Lab Grades Land Across 3 Zones at Manna Hill

Cobra Resources (LSE: COBR) has confirmed copper at 3 zones around Blue Rose at its Manna Hill project in South Australia's Nackara Arc, with the first laboratory assays from its 2026 step-out drilling released on October 21, 2026. Shadow Rose, about 200 meters south, and Neptune Rose, about 500 meters north, are new skarn discoveries, while a westerly extension at Blue Rose West returned copper in porphyry-style alteration.

The drilling is now testing 2 related questions: whether skarn mineralization extends around Blue Rose, and whether the porphyry-style copper at Blue Rose West helps locate the larger source system Cobra is targeting at depth. Further drilling must establish whether the zones form a system large enough to support the company's targeted shallow, low-strip open pit.

Managing Director of Cobra Resources, Rupert Verco, described what the first batch delivered against the company's exploration criteria:

"The first results tick all the boxes: new discoveries, high-grade, shallow depths, width and a significant technical advancement towards defining the porphyry source."

1. Blue Rose West Puts Copper in Porphyry-Style Rock From 52 Meters

A hole testing the westerly extension of Blue Rose returned 32 meters at 0.7% copper and 0.07 grams per tonne gold from 52 meters, including 12 meters at 1.13% copper and 0.08 grams per tonne gold from 56 meters. The copper is in highly potassic, porphyry-style alteration, not the calc-silicate skarn that hosts the earlier Blue Rose intercepts, and the mineralization contacts a large magnetized anomaly.

Earlier diamond drilling at Blue Rose linked deeper copper to increasing potassic alteration, with more than 50 meters of hydrothermal breccia and large anhydrite veining logged as porphyry indicators. One of those diamond holes returned 23 meters at 0.63% copper from 186 meters. The new intercept places copper in porphyry-style alteration from 52 meters, a shallower occurrence of this alteration-hosted copper, and further drilling must determine how it relates to the deeper porphyry indicators. Cobra has allocated 6 of its added holes to that test.

2. Shadow Rose Is a New Skarn Discovery Starting 12 Meters Below Surface

The first assayed hole at Shadow Rose returned 58 meters at 0.46% copper and 0.15 grams per tonne gold from 12 meters. That interval includes 42 meters at 0.56% copper and 0.10 grams per tonne gold from 22 meters, and a higher-grade core of 10 meters at 1.09% copper. Cobra targeted Shadow Rose on outcropping skarn alteration along strike.

The 12-meter starting depth and 58-meter width are favorable inputs for Cobra's shallow open-pit concept, but a single hole does not establish the continuity of the mineralized body or the strip ratio a mine plan would require. Cobra has added 4 holes to test Shadow Rose's strike extent, and assays are pending for 2 additional Shadow Rose holes that logged anomalous copper.

3. Neptune Rose Supports a Northern Extension of the Blue Rose Skarn

At Neptune Rose, the first assayed hole returned 10 meters at 0.39% copper and 0.06 grams per tonne gold from 104 meters, plus 2 meters at 0.51 grams per tonne gold from 98 meters. Cobra interprets Neptune Rose as the northern fold limb of the calc-silicate skarn at Blue Rose, a target defined by a moderate gravity edge high, and has recorded elevated potassium near the northern edge of the magnetic feature.

If that interpretation holds, the skarn horizon that hosts Blue Rose extends north, and the value of the hole lies in that geometry more than in its grade. Assays are pending for a further Neptune Rose hole that showed anomalous copper in logging.

4. Earlier Blue Rose Intercepts Set the Grade Context

Blue Rose is a skarn-hosted copper-gold system on the margins of the Anabama Granite, with mineralization confirmed along 1.6 kilometers of strike before this program began. Its benchmark intercepts include an earlier hole with 47 meters at 2.2% copper and 0.76 grams per tonne gold from 11 meters, and a January 2026 hole with 74 meters at 1.02% copper and 0.25 grams per tonne gold from 70 meters. The 2026 step-out holes return lower grades than those benchmarks and extend copper to new ground west, south and north of the deposit.

Those intercepts provide grade context, not an estimate of average deposit grade. The current step-outs are testing the extent of mineralization, and a resource model would be needed to establish representative grades and continuity.

Verco tied the drilling to a specific mining outcome:

"Our primary objective for this drilling is to test for scale that could support a shallow resource that could meet the criteria of low strip open pit mining. These initial results are delivering that thesis."

5. Cobra Has Extended the Program to 64 Holes

Cobra has completed 32 holes for more than 2,800 meters and has extended the program to 64 holes in total. The extension includes 6 holes to test the porphyry alteration at Blue Rose West and 4 holes to test the strike extent of Shadow Rose.

The program also plans follow-up diamond drilling at Blue Rose, along with a detailed aerial drone magnetic survey over Blue Rose and the surrounding prospects. Both the Blue Rose West and Neptune Rose intercepts relate to magnetic features, which the survey will map in more detail.

6. The Next Results Will Test Continuity & the Porphyry Targets

Drilling at Blue Rose, Neptune Rose, Anabama Hill, and Netley Hill is scheduled to be completed in November 2026, with laboratory assays to follow. The program includes Cobra's first drilling at the Netley Hill porphyry target, where previous drilling returned 350 meters at 0.1% copper, 0.015% molybdenum, and 1 gram per tonne silver. At Anabama, previous intercepts include 27 meters at 0.2% copper and 24 meters at 0.06% molybdenum.

Those results will address the 2 open questions. Assays from the 3 logged holes and the 4 Shadow Rose follow-up holes will test whether the skarn extends and connects around Blue Rose. The 6 Blue Rose West holes, the first drilling at Netley Hill, and the new drilling at Anabama Hill will test whether porphyry-style copper extends beyond a single intercept.

7. Warrant Exercises Lift the Share Count to 1,095,722,979

On October 22, 2026, Cobra announced it had received notices to exercise 500,000 warrants at 2.3 pence per share, and the company will issue the new shares under its existing block listing. Issued share capital now stands at 1,095,722,979 ordinary shares. Outside equity, Cobra will hold 6.45 million Barton Gold shares at final settlement of the sale of its gold assets, plus A$9.5 million in further future payments.

Key Takeaways for Investors

Blue Rose West returned 32 meters at 0.7% copper from 52 meters in porphyry-style alteration, and Shadow Rose returned 58 meters at 0.46% copper from 12 meters as a new shallow skarn discovery. Neptune Rose's copper intercept supports, but does not prove, a northern extension of the Blue Rose skarn.

Cobra has extended the program to 64 holes, including 6 follow-up holes at Blue Rose West and 4 at Shadow Rose, with drilling scheduled for completion in November 2026. The next test is whether follow-up drilling establishes continuity across the zones and strengthens the case for a shallow, low-strip open pit.