Cobra Resources Appoints Chief Financial Officer & Exploration Manager

Cobra Resources has strengthened its senior team with two appointments as it advances its Boland and Manna Hill projects in South Australia. Cormac Byrne joins full-time as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), having previously served in a consulting role, and Andrew Alesci joins as Exploration Manager. The appointments add financial and technical capacity as the company works toward a maiden rare earth resource estimate at Boland and expands the copper-gold-molybdenum system at Manna Hill.

Company Overview

Cobra Resources (LSE: COBR) is a South Australian critical minerals developer advancing assets across all stages of the pre-production pathway. In 2023, the company identified the Boland ionic rare earth discovery at its Wudinna Project in the Gawler Craton, described as Australia's only rare earth project suitable for in situ recovery (ISR) mining, a low-cost, low-disturbance method that removes the need for excavation. In 2025, it optioned the Manna Hill Copper Project in the Nackara Arc and sold its Wudinna Gold Assets to Barton Gold for up to A$15 million in cash and shares.

The Appointments

Cormac Byrne has transitioned to a full-time role from a consulting position. He was previously CFO of Centrex Limited, where he played a key role in financing and developing the company's phosphate operation in Queensland. Earlier roles included positions at Commonwealth Bank in corporate and business banking and at HLB Mann Judd, and he brings experience across project finance, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic transactions for listed and private companies.

Andrew Alesci has more than 17 years of experience as an exploration geologist across South Australia and the Northern Territory, spanning mining and mineral exploration. His background spans a range of deposit styles, including orogenic gold, epithermal silver and base metals, porphyry copper-gold, and skarn-hosted tungsten-molybdenum systems, as well as grassroots exploration, resource growth, project development, and economic studies. He will support advanced exploration and development at both Boland and Manna Hill.

Managing Director of Cobra Resources, Rupert Verco, is direct about the rationale:

"The appointments of Cormac and Andrew enhance the team's financial and technical capabilities as Cobra advances two significant South Australian projects in parallel."

Next Steps

A forthcoming maiden rare earth resource estimate is set to be the catalyst for Cobra to enter the economic evaluation phase at the Boland ISR rare earth project. Recent drilling at Manna Hill is adding scale to the Blue Rose copper-gold-molybdenum system, and the expanded team is intended to support timely execution across both projects.