Cobra Resources Reports High-Grade Copper Discovery at Blue Rose, Raises £4.5 Million to Accelerate Drilling

• Results from 12 additional drill holes at Blue Rose extend copper-gold-molybdenum mineralisation more than 750 metres along strike, with the standout hole MHRC0013 returning 62 metres of mineralised rock grading 1.0% copper and 0.08 grams of gold per tonne of rock from 62 metres below surface, including a richer internal zone of 16 metres grading 1.92% copper from 74 metres
• A separate hole, MHRC0003, intersected high-grade molybdenum - a metal that forms at very high temperatures close to a porphyry heat source - at a grade of 0.38% over 2 metres from 146 metres depth, which the company interprets as a signal that a large porphyry copper system lies beneath the current discovery
• Two older diamond drill holes that stopped inside copper mineralisation without reaching barren rock sit directly above the interpreted porphyry target, providing the geological justification for a third, deeper diamond drill hole targeting the source
• Cobra has confirmed it will exercise its option to formally acquire the Manna Hill Project, and a diamond drill rig is booked for late April 2026 to test the interpreted porphyry core beneath the Blue Rose skarn
• A £4.5 million fundraise closed on 1 April 2026 at 4.0 pence per share, with approximately £1.23 million earmarked for a Mineral Resource Estimate - a formal independent calculation of how much metal is in the ground - at the Boland Rare Earth Project, targeting completion in June 2026, and the remainder directed to accelerated copper drilling at Manna Hill

Cobra Resources (LSE: COBR) has reported assay results - the laboratory analysis of rock samples that confirms what minerals are present and how richly they occur - from 12 additional drill holes at its Blue Rose copper-gold discovery within the Manna Hill Copper Project in South Australia. The new results extend high-grade copper mineralisation across a distance of more than 750 metres, roughly the length of 7 football fields, and the company has formally confirmed it intends to acquire the project outright after previously holding only an option to buy it. A diamond drill rig - a more powerful drilling method used to test deeper targets and collect intact rock core for detailed analysis - has been booked for late April 2026 to chase what the company believes may be a large porphyry copper system sitting beneath the current discovery.

Two results from this programme define what investors should watch. Hole MHRC0013, which returned 62 metres of rock grading 1.0% copper - meaning that for every tonne of rock mined from that zone, 10 kilograms would be copper, a grade considered economic for open-pit mining in a favourable location - sits 750 metres west of the previously reported MHRC0018 hole, demonstrating that the Blue Rose mineralisation extends well beyond the area tested by previous drilling, with both zones still open at depth and along strike. The high-grade molybdenum intersected in MHRC0003 at 0.38% over 2 metres from 146 metres depth, associated with the type of altered rock that forms directly around a porphyry intrusion, points toward a much larger copper system at depth. If the late April 2026 diamond drilling confirms a porphyry source, the scale of the project could expand materially beyond the skarn mineralisation currently defined, while a Mineral Resource Estimate at the Boland Rare Earth Project targeting June 2026 provides a second near-term milestone independent of the copper drilling outcome.

Drill Results

There are two main styles of copper deposit at Manna Hill. The skarn - the shallower, near-surface mineralisation being drilled now - forms when hot fluids from a deep magma body react with limestone rock and deposit copper and gold minerals in the surrounding rock. The porphyry - the deeper target - is the original magma body itself, which can host very large copper-gold-molybdenum deposits. Most of the world's large copper mines, including Cadia in New South Wales, are porphyry systems, and skarns like Blue Rose often sit directly on top of them, acting as a signpost to the larger system below.

Hole MHRC0013 returned 62 metres of rock at 1.0% copper and 0.08 grams of gold per tonne (g/t) from 62 metres below surface, including 30 metres at 1.56% copper from 66 metres, and a higher-grade core of 16 metres at 1.92% copper from 74 metres. To put that grade in context, a copper grade of 1.0% means roughly 10 kilograms of copper in every tonne of rock, while 1.92% means close to 20 kilograms per tonne - well above the global average open-pit copper mine grade of approximately 0.5%. This hole sits 750 metres west of MHRC0018, which returned 74 metres at 1.02% copper and 0.25 g/t gold from 70 metres and 20 metres at 0.78% copper from 38 metres. In both holes, copper mineralisation starts near surface and continues into primary sulphides - the deeper, harder rock type that typically hosts the largest portion of a copper deposit - with mineralisation remaining open west of MHRC0013 and at depth east of MHRC0018.

Additional holes included MHRC0011 at 22 metres at 0.80% copper from 20 metres, including 6 metres at 1.56% copper from 22 metres; MHRC0009 at 22 metres at 0.48% copper and 0.17 g/t gold from 30 metres, including 10 metres at 0.81% copper from 30 metres; and MHRC0010 at 6 metres at 0.77% copper from 24 metres, including 2 metres at 1.56% copper from 26 metres and 4 metres at 0.073% molybdenum from 94 metres. The first batch of results, reported March 9, 2026, included MHRC0017 at 86 metres at 0.60% copper from 18 metres, and MHRC0003 at 56 metres at 0.34% copper from 34 metres, plus 10 metres at 0.12% molybdenum from 144 metres, including a high-grade interval of 2 metres at 0.38% molybdenum from 146 metres.

Management Commentary

Rupert Verco, Chief Executive Officer of Cobra Resources, said at the February 2026 drilling completion that initial observations indicated the programme was vectoring towards a porphyry core, describing the results as the catalyst for the board to exercise the Manna Hill option. Verco stated that all indications were positive for delivering further scale to shallow, high-grade mineralisation.

Following the close of the £4.5 million fundraise in March 2026, Verco said the company was entering its next phase with the financial backing required to accelerate activity across its assets, adding:

"This year's work programmes have the potential to establish Cobra as a significant copper and rare earths developer in South Australia."

What the Geology Is Telling Investors

Porphyry copper systems are the world's largest source of copper production and are typically identified through a set of geochemical and geophysical signals before drilling ever reaches the ore body. The first signal at Blue Rose is a central induced polarisation (IP) resistivity anomaly - a geophysical reading that measures how rock responds to an electrical current underground, used by geologists the same way a doctor uses an X-ray to see what is happening inside the earth - exceeding 150 ohms directly beneath the skarn. Cobra interprets that reading as silicification, meaning the rock has been hardened by hot silica-rich fluids pushed outward from a cooling magma body below, which is one of the most reliable physical indicators of a porphyry heat source.

The second signal is molybdenite - the mineral form of molybdenum - which only crystallises at very high temperatures in the innermost, hottest zone of a porphyry system, the same zone that typically hosts the highest copper grades. Its presence at 0.38% over 2 metres in MHRC0003 from 146 metres depth, alongside rock types and chemical alteration patterns associated with proximity to a porphyry core, places that drill hole in the thermal gradient immediately above the interpreted porphyry source. Two historical diamond drill holes, BRDD003 at 26.7 metres at 0.43% copper from 195 metres and RCBR035D at 23.25 metres at 0.22% copper from 276.25 metres - the deepest holes ever drilled at Blue Rose - were both stopped while still inside copper mineralisation directly above the IP anomaly, meaning the system remains open at the precise location of the interpreted porphyry target. The diamond rig booked for late April 2026 will drill through that zone for the first time.

Project & Regional Context

The Manna Hill Project covers Exploration Licences 6009, 6046 and 6646, totalling 1,855 square kilometres in the Nackara Arc, South Australia, sitting along the national railway and Barrier Highway between Broken Hill, a major regional mining hub with established smelting infrastructure, and Adelaide. South Australia holds approximately 70% of Australia's copper reserves, according to Cobra Resources' February 19, 2026 RNS, making it the country's dominant copper-producing state and giving Manna Hill access to existing roads, rail, power and processing infrastructure. Geochronological studies by Hong et al., 2023 demonstrate that porphyritic stocks within the Nackara Arc formed at the same time as the porphyry systems at Cadia and North Parkes in New South Wales, providing independent academic support for the arc's potential to host large copper deposits.

Historical drilling at Blue Rose, conducted before Cobra's current programme, established three significant intercepts across 1.6 kilometres of strike: hole RABR822 at 48 metres at 2.2% copper - more than 4 times the average open-pit mine grade - and 0.76 g/t gold from 11 metres; hole RCBR025 at 132 metres at 0.52% copper from 8 metres, including 48 metres at 1.04% copper; and hole RABR152 at 41 metres at 1.6% copper from 9 metres, including 18 metres at 2.03% copper. At the separate Netley Hill target within the same project area, one historical hole intersected 350 metres of mineralised rock at 0.1% copper and 0.015% molybdenum from surface, associated with a 3-kilometre chargeability anomaly, and Cobra holds permits for diamond drilling at that target.

Financing & Development Context

Cobra closed a £4.5 million net fundraise on 25 March 2026 by issuing 41,924,995 new ordinary shares at 4.0 pence per share, admitted to the London Stock Exchange on 1 April 2026, bringing total shares on issue to 1,056,320,849. Of the total raised, approximately £1.23 million was allocated to the Boland Rare Earth Project - Cobra's second asset targeting dysprosium and terbium, two rare earth elements used in electric vehicle motors and wind turbines - covering a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) targeting June 2026, a scoping study targeting July 2026, and the start of an in-situ recovery (ISR) field pilot by year-end. ISR is a low-disturbance mining method that dissolves metals underground and pumps the mineral-rich solution to the surface rather than excavating rock, which significantly reduces both the cost and environmental footprint of extraction.

The fundraise followed the 2025 sale of Cobra's Wudinna gold assets to Barton Gold (ASX: BDG) for up to A$15 million in cash and shares, providing non-dilutive capital - meaning existing shareholders were not diluted at that point - ahead of the current drilling programme. Cobra has confirmed its intention to formally exercise the Manna Hill option and is preparing site access works ahead of the late April 2026 diamond drill mobilisation.

Market Context

COBR shares were trading at 4.826 pence on April 20, 2026, a gain of 9.68% since January 1, 2026, according to MarketScreener data. The company carries no debt and remains pre-revenue, meaning it has not yet sold any metal from its projects, with operating costs funded by the March 2026 share placing and the proceeds from the Wudinna gold asset sale. The most recent analyst rating on LSE: COBR, as of February 2026, was a Hold with a price target of £4.00 per share, implying a potential upside of approximately 17% from the current share price of 4.826 pence, based on that target alone.

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