Cobra Resources Commences Diamond Drilling at Manna Hill to Test Depth & Porphyry Source

• Cobra Resources has commenced a fully funded diamond drilling programme at the Blue Rose prospect within the Manna Hill Copper Project in South Australia, targeting depth extensions of shallow high-grade copper-gold mineralisation.
• The programme, of up to 1,800 metres, is designed to probe the geological link between the defined skarn mineralisation and interpreted diorite intrusions and porphyry-style targets at depth.
• Blue Rose has returned high-grade intersections including 74 metres at over 1% copper and 86 metres at 0.60% copper from 18 metres depth, with the system remaining open at depth directly above the interpreted porphyry target.
• The diamond drilling programme is fully funded from the £4.5 million fundraise that closed on 1 April 2026, with the balance of those proceeds directed to advancing the Boland Rare Earth Project (REE) towards pre-feasibility.
• The Manna Hill tenure covers nearly 1,900 square kilometres in the Nackara Arc and includes, in addition to Blue Rose, the Netley Hill and Anabama copper prospects and the Golden Sophia gold prospect, most of which remains untested.

Company Overview

Cobra Resources (LSE: COBR) is a South Australian critical minerals developer advancing assets at all stages of the pre-production pathway. The company's portfolio includes the Boland ionic rare earth element (REE) discovery at its Wudinna Project in the Gawler Craton, described as Australia's only REE project considered suitable for in situ recovery (ISR) mining, a low-cost, low-disturbance extraction method that eliminates the need for excavation. The company also holds the Manna Hill Copper Project in the Nackara Arc. In 2025, Cobra divested its Wudinna gold assets to Barton Gold  for up to A$15 million in cash and shares, sharpening its focus on copper and rare earth opportunities in South Australia.

Diamond Drilling Commences at Blue Rose

Cobra Resources PLC (LSE: COBR) has commenced a diamond drilling programme at the Blue Rose prospect within its Manna Hill Copper Project in South Australia. The programme targets up to 1,800 metres and is designed to test depth extensions of the shallow, high-grade copper-gold skarn system already delineated at surface, as well as the potential porphyry source interpreted to lie beneath it. The programme is fully funded from the proceeds of the £4.5 million fundraise that closed on 1 April 2026.

Diamond drilling recovers solid cylindrical rock core from depth, providing structural, mineralogical, and geochemical data of a quality that earlier reverse circulation (RC) drilling cannot replicate. At Blue Rose, the technique is being deployed to probe targets below the limits of the RC programme, and to collect the core quality required to support future resource estimation work.

Background: Blue Rose & the RC Programme

The Blue Rose prospect is a skarn-replacement copper-gold system, where previous exploration has defined copper, gold, and molybdenum mineralisation along 1.6 kilometres of continuous strike beginning close to the surface. The 18-hole, 3,200-metre RC programme completed in February 2026 intersected broad zones of visible oxide and primary copper mineralisation in 10 holes, alongside molybdenite linked to quartz monzonite and diorite intrusions. The programme also produced the project's first multi-element portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) dataset, enabling Cobra and its consultants to assess the geochemistry of the system in the context of a porphyry setting.

The latest RC results included an intersection of 74 metres at over 1% copper, 86 metres at 0.60% copper from 18 metres depth, and 62 metres at 1.0% copper. Drilling directly beneath these high-grade zones confirmed that mineralisation continues at depth. Two historical diamond drill holes, BRDD003 and RCBR035D, were both stopped while still inside copper mineralisation directly above the interpreted porphyry target, leaving the system open at the precise location of the interpreted source.

Programme Objectives

The current programme has two primary objectives: confirming depth extensions of the shallow, high-grade skarn mineralisation already defined at Blue Rose, and testing the geological link between that skarn system and the interpreted diorite intrusions and porphyry-style targets at depth. Geophysical surveys and geochemical analysis have been used to identify what the company interprets as the buried source beneath the shallower copper zones. The diamond drilling programme will test that interpretation directly.

Project Context & Funding

The Manna Hill Project tenure covers nearly 1,900 square kilometres in the Nackara Arc and includes, in addition to Blue Rose, the Netley Hill and Anabama copper prospects and the Golden Sophia gold prospect (Source: Company May 2026 Presentation). The majority of the tenure remains untested. South Australia holds approximately 70% of Australia's copper reserves, as stated in Cobra's February 2026 regulatory announcement, with established roads, rail, power, and processing infrastructure accessible from the project area.

The diamond drilling programme is financed from the proceeds of the £4.5 million fundraise closed on 1 April 2026 at 4.0 pence per share. Approximately £1.23 million of those proceeds is separately earmarked for a Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) at the Boland REE Project, targeting completion in June 2026, with the balance directed to accelerated copper drilling at Manna Hill.

Next Steps

The diamond drilling programme of up to 1,800 metres is targeting depth extensions at Blue Rose and the interpreted porphyry source beneath the shallow skarn system. Results will inform the design of future resource definition and extensional drilling campaigns at Manna Hill. Concurrently, results from 58 drill holes at the Boland REE Project are pending, with the company targeting a maiden MRE in the range of 200 million to 400 million tonnes. The Boland MRE is targeting completion in June 2026.

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