Cobra Resources Pushes Forward on Copper & Rare Earth Projects in South Australia

• Cobra Resources is advancing two projects in South Australia targeting copper and rare earth elements used in clean energy technology
• At the Manna Hill Copper Project, the company is preparing deeper drilling to test for a large copper source beneath encouraging shallow results at the Blue Rose prospect
• Copper mineralisation has been found consistently across a wide corridor at Blue Rose, with several holes returning thick sections at grades considered meaningful at this stage of exploration
• At the Boland Rare Earth Project, Cobra is using a low-impact extraction method suited to the deposit's geology, with laboratory and field testing confirming the approach works as intended
• Results from a large number of drillholes across both projects remain pending, with the company targeting a resource large enough to potentially support a long-life mining operation at Boland

Cobra Resources Pushes Forward on Copper & Rare Earth Projects in South Australia

Cobra Resources (LSE: COBR) is advancing two separate mineral projects in South Australia, one targeting copper and the other focused on rare earth elements used in electric vehicles and clean energy technology. The company is approaching important drilling milestones at both projects, with results from a large batch of drillholes still pending at its rare earth project. Cobra's two-project structure gives it exposure to both the copper market and the growing demand for critical minerals used in the energy transition.

Manna Hill: Drilling Deeper to Find the Source

At the Manna Hill Copper Project, Cobra has been drilling at a prospect called Blue Rose and has repeatedly found copper-bearing rock close to the surface across a corridor stretching roughly 1.6 kilometres. The company is now preparing to drill deeper using a more detailed method that pulls up continuous samples of rock, allowing geologists to build a clearer picture of what lies underground. The goal is to test whether a much larger copper body, the kind of geological formation that hosts some of the world's biggest copper mines, sits beneath the shallower mineralisation already found.

The results from the shallower drilling have been encouraging. Several holes returned thick sections of copper at grades that are considered meaningful at this stage of exploration, with some of the best intersections starting at very shallow depths. The consistency of those results across multiple holes spread over a wide area is what has given the company confidence to invest in the next, deeper phase of drilling.

Beyond Blue Rose, the Manna Hill project includes several other copper prospects where older drilling programs also found copper and related metals. The project is located in a part of South Australia that is home to some of Australia's largest copper mines, which gives the region geological credibility. Cobra holds the project under an agreement that gives it the right to fully acquire it by paying a relatively modest consideration in shares and cash.

Boland: A Gentler Way to Mine Rare Earths

The Boland Rare Earth Project is targeting dysprosium and terbium, two rare earth elements that go into the powerful magnets found in electric vehicle motors, wind turbines, and military equipment. These elements are considered strategically important because most of the world's supply currently comes from China. Instead of digging a large open pit or going underground, Cobra plans to extract them by pumping a mild acid solution into the ground to dissolve the minerals, then bringing the enriched liquid to the surface, a method that uses less land and generates less waste than conventional mining.

What makes Boland well-suited to this approach is its geology. The rare earth mineralisation sits within a naturally porous layer of sand that is sealed above and below by layers that liquid cannot pass through easily, keeping the extraction process contained. Laboratory and field testing have confirmed that the method works as intended at Boland, and the processing steps Cobra uses to clean up the final product result in a higher proportion of the most valuable rare earths compared to many competing projects.

Cobra has been drilling at two areas within its much larger landholding to establish the first formal estimate of how much mineralised material exists. Those two areas together make up less than 5% of the total ground the company controls, which spans a large system of ancient buried riverbeds across South Australia. Results from a large number of drillholes at both areas are still pending, and the company is targeting a resource large enough to potentially support a long-life mining operation.

Company Position

Cobra carries a market capitalisation of £50 million, with its four largest shareholders collectively holding roughly 37% of the company, a level of insider ownership that is generally seen as a sign of alignment between management and shareholders. The company also retains entitlement to shares in a separate listed company and deferred cash payments from the earlier sale of its gold assets, providing some additional financial resources as it continues to fund both projects.

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