Cobra Targets District-Scale Copper at Manna Hill as 2 Porphyry Tests Begin

• Slim-line drilling at Blue Rose has extended copper anomalism from approximately 1.6 kilometers to beyond 2.2 kilometers along strike. 2 skarn systems not previously drilled, Shadow Rose and Neptune Rose, have returned copper anomalism.
• All 3 zones remain open after 23 holes of a program of up to 58. First laboratory assays are expected 4 to 6 weeks from October 8, 2026.
• Earlier Blue Rose drilling returned 47 meters at 2.2% copper from 11 meters and 74 meters at 1.02% copper from 70 meters, providing a benchmark for the pending assays.
• Diamond holes returned copper and molybdenum at depth. Core also showed more than 50 meters of hydrothermal breccia and potassic alteration, which Cobra interprets as signs of a porphyry source.
• Drilling at the Anabama Hill and Netley Hill porphyry targets is scheduled to finish in November 2026.

Building a Copper District in South Australia

Cobra Resources (LSE: COBR) is drilling the Manna Hill Copper Project in South Australia's Nackara Arc to test whether it can grow into a province-scale copper district built on several prospects. The first 23 holes of a slim-line reverse circulation (RC) program, with a total of up to 58 holes, have extended the Blue Rose skarn corridor from approximately 1.6 kilometers to more than 2.2 kilometers in strike length. They have also intersected copper anomalism in 2 skarn units that had not been drilled before.

Cobra has made scale its stated objective. The board is targeting more than 1 million tonnes of contained copper from shallow skarn mineralization, and treats a porphyry source at depth as a larger second stage.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cobra Resources, Rupert Verco, put a number on each stage:

"We're talking about getting to 1 million tonnes with this skarn, and a porphyry here could take us to above 5 million tonnes of contained copper, which would be big."

Both figures are company targets, not resources. No Mineral Resource has been estimated at Manna Hill. The new zones reported on October 8, 2026, are based on visual logging and handheld portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) readings, with laboratory assays pending.

3 Skarns Along a Folded Calc-Silicate Unit

The current program is designed to test several geological interpretations, and the first results support them. Blue Rose, Shadow Rose, and Neptune Rose are hosted in the same calc-silicate unit, which Cobra interprets as being repeated by an anticline and as a stratigraphic repeat across a series of faults. Calc-silicate rock reacts with rising hydrothermal fluids, and that reaction deposits magnetite and copper.

Neptune Rose lies approximately 500 meters north of Blue Rose on the interpreted northern fold limb. A gravity edge anomaly, which marks a change in rock density, generated the target, and one hole there intersected anomalous copper sulfides from 56 to 62 meters and again from 104 to 114 meters. Shadow Rose, approximately 300 meters south of Blue Rose, came from field mapping of creek outcrops. 2 holes 100 meters apart each returned intervals of up to 60 meters of continuous copper anomalism, and one hole on the transect logged strong copper oxides from 10 meters to 50 meters and copper sulfides to 70 meters.

At the western end of Blue Rose, one hole intersected anomalous copper over 32 meters from 52 meters, with coarse chalcopyrite and pyrite logged in chips from 66 meters to 68 meters. A further 14 holes are planned at Blue Rose West. Further drilling at Shadow Rose is aimed at testing strike continuity 2 kilometers east of the current holes, where outcropping skarn alteration first defined the target.

Grade Is Established at Blue Rose & Pending for the New Zones

Earlier Blue Rose drilling provides the grade reference. Across 1.6 kilometers of strike, it returned 47 meters at 2.2% copper and 0.76 grams per tonne gold from 11 meters, 74 meters at 1.02% copper and 0.25 grams per tonne gold from 70 meters, 86 meters at 0.60% copper from 18 meters, and 62 meters at 1.0% copper from 62 meters.

Cobra regards the shallow depth of these broad intervals, which regularly exceed 1% copper, as supporting low open-pit strip ratios. Preliminary metallurgical work has returned good results for standard sulfide flotation. More work is needed on the oxide opportunity, including whether oxide material is blended into the flotation circuit.

The grade is not yet known for Shadow Rose, Neptune Rose, and Blue Rose West. Cobra uses pXRF in the field to check visual observations of copper oxides, native copper and chalcopyrite. It states that no reliance should be placed on those readings as an indication of grade, tenor or economic significance. The pending assays will show whether the new zones match the Blue Rose grade profile.

Porphyry Signals at Depth Point to the Larger Prize

Diamond drilling in 2026 tested the ground beneath the skarns. One diamond hole returned 23 meters at 0.63% copper and 0.09 grams per tonne gold from 186 meters, including 12.4 meters at 1.01% copper from 190 meters. A second returned 36 meters at 0.39% copper from 232 meters, including 10 meters at 0.99% copper, 0.13 grams per tonne gold and 0.02% molybdenum from 241.5 meters, plus 16.9 meters at 0.08% molybdenum from 335.5 meters.

The core logging supports the porphyry interpretation. Cobra reports more than 50 meters of hydrothermal breccia, large anhydrite veining and copper associated with increasing potassic alteration at depth. At shallow depths, by contrast, the calc-silicate rock controls the mineralization. Geochemical analysis by geological advisor Professor Ross Large AO identified 2 distinct mineral assemblages. A shallow RC interval shows a retrograde serpentine-chlorite assemblage, while chemistry from a diamond hole between surface and 321 meters shows a prograde phlogopite-albite assemblage with a minor retrograde overprint.

Cobra plans to define the shallow skarn inventory first. It will trace higher-grade zones back to the cross-cutting structures that fed them and use that work to aim the deeper porphyry holes. Verco uses Cadia, one of Australia's leading porphyry copper-gold mines, as the reference point. He estimates Cadia's 2 skarns held approximately half a million tonnes of contained copper at about 0.4% copper, and says Blue Rose is returning higher copper grades.

The District Pipeline Beyond Blue Rose

Blue Rose is one of several prospects across Cobra's Manna Hill tenements. Slim-line air-core and RC programs, with conventional RC alongside, have begun at Blue Rose, Neptune Rose, Anabama Hill and Netley Hill and are scheduled to finish in November 2026. Reported intersections at Anabama include 27 meters at 0.2% copper and 24 meters at 0.06% molybdenum, and at Netley Hill 350 meters at 0.1% copper, 0.015% molybdenum and 1 gram per tonne silver.

Verco described what similar results at the 2 porphyry targets would mean for the company:

"We're trying to build out something that has Tier 1 potential, and it's not just a one-show pony. We're about to drill 2 other porphyry targets in Anabama and Netley Hill, and hopefully we see similar outcomes there. All of a sudden, we're talking about a province-scale opportunity and not a single-pit project."

State radiometric data flag 2 more porphyry targets. Round Hill has a uranium anomaly with copper at surface, and Welsh Prince is defined by a non-coincident thorium-uranium anomaly. Cobra's timeline extends into 2027, with heritage clearance, soil surveys, geophysics, and drilling of regional targets beginning in the first quarter of 2027. A detailed aerial drone magnetic survey over Blue Rose and the surrounding prospects is also planned.

Board Experience & Capital Behind the Program

Cobra is aiming the scale case at copper producers looking for new supply. Verco points to Sandfire Resources and its Kalkaroo transaction with Havilah Resources, north of Manna Hill, as the benchmark for what mid-tier buyers want:

"There aren't many mid-tiers out there at the moment. There's probably Sandfire doing it exceptionally well, and they've recently done a transaction with Havilah, who are located north of us at the Kalkaroo asset, to try and bring online 50,000 tonnes per annum copper production. There's just not a lot of assets that can support that kind of scale."

Cobra's board and advisors include senior executives from major miners. Non-Executive Chair Andrew Michelmore AO is a former CEO of WMC, OZ Minerals, MMG and Zinifex, and a former Chair of the Minerals Council of Australia. Technical and strategic advisor Stephen McIntosh spent 33 of his more than 40 years in global resources at Rio Tinto and is a former Group Executive, Growth & Innovation. Executive Director David Clarke, a geologist with more than 55 years of experience and the project vendor, holds 11.03% of the company.

Cobra had a market capitalization of 47.7 million pounds sterling at 4.2 pence on August 18, 2026, with 211 million warrants outstanding at 2.0, 2.3, and 6.0 pence. After 1.5 million warrants were exercised at 2.0 pence, announced on October 12, 2026, issued share capital stands at 1,092,849,066 shares. Following the 2025 sale of its non-core gold assets for A$ 15 million in cash and shares, Cobra will own 6.45 million BartonGold (ASX: BDG) shares at final settlement, plus A$ 9.5 million in further payments. Cobra plans to fund deeper porphyry drilling once the skarn inventory has lifted its valuation, thereby limiting shareholder dilution.

The Investment Thesis for Cobra Resources

• Cobra Resources has extended the Blue Rose copper corridor at Manna Hill from approximately 1.6 kilometers to beyond 2.2 kilometers of strike and found copper anomalies in 2 new skarn systems, with all 3 zones open after 23 of up to 58 holes.
• Earlier Blue Rose drilling returned shallow, broad grades, including 47 meters at 2.2% copper from 11 meters and 74 meters at 1.02% copper from 70 meters, which provide a benchmark for the pending laboratory assays from the new zones.
• Diamond drilling returned copper and molybdenum at depth, along with more than 50 meters of hydrothermal breccia and potassic alteration, supporting the company's interpretation of a porphyry source beneath the skarns.
• Reverse circulation drilling at the Anabama Hill and Netley Hill porphyry targets is scheduled to finish in November 2026 and will test whether Manna Hill extends beyond a single deposit.
• The company is targeting more than 1 million tonnes of contained copper from the skarns and above 5 million tonnes if a porphyry source is confirmed, a scale it links to demand from mid-tier copper producers.
• The board includes a former chief executive of WMC and OZ Minerals and an advisor with 33 years at Rio Tinto, and the company will own 6.45 million Barton Gold shares with a further A$9.5 million in payments due.

Cobra has shown visually that copper extends along strike and into new skarn units, and that porphyry signs are present at depth. Over the remainder of the 2026 program, assays from the new zones and the first results from Anabama Hill and Netley Hill will show whether that visual extent is accompanied by grade, and whether Manna Hill hosts more than one copper system.

TL;DR

Cobra Resources has extended the Blue Rose copper anomaly at Manna Hill beyond 2.2 kilometers of strike and has found copper anomalies in 2 new skarns, Shadow Rose and Neptune Rose, with 23 of 58 RC holes completed. Earlier, Blue Rose drilling set a grade benchmark of 47 meters at 2.2% copper from 11 meters, and diamond core shows porphyry-related mineralization at depth. Assays are due 4 to 6 weeks from October 8, 2026, and drilling at the Anabama Hill and Netley Hill porphyry targets is scheduled to finish in November 2026. Cobra is targeting more than 1 million tonnes of contained copper from the skarns.

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