RCS - Cobra Resources PLC - Response to China’s Rare Earths Export Controls

Cobra ResourcesAnnouncement

07/04/2025 14:30

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RNS Number : 9689D  Cobra Resources PLC  07 April 2025

7 April 2025

 

Cobra Resources plc

("Cobra" or the "Company")

 

Response to China's Rare Earths Export Controls

 

Cobra well positioned to benefit from any resulting increases in rare earth
pricing and demand

 

Cobra (https://cobraplc.com/) (LSE: COBR)
(https://www.londonstockexchange.com/stock/COBR/cobra-resources-plc/company-page)
, the mineral exploration and development company advancing a potentially
world-class ionic Rare Earth Elements ("REEs") discovery at its Boland Project
("Boland") in South Australia, notes China's decision on 4 April 2025 to place
export restrictions on select rare earth elements ("REEs") as part of its
response to U.S. tariffs.

 

Whilst the implemented measures are not expected to stop Chinese exports of
select REE products altogether, the Company anticipates it will result in a
slow-down and reduction of exports of products which are subject to export
control measures, thereby tightening supply of critical minerals used in
defence, electronics and a range of consumer goods.

 

As such, the Company believes that developing REE projects for reliable supply
of dysprosium and terbium, which are among the heavy rare earth ("HREE")
products to be placed on China's export control list, will become increasingly
important as markets evolve and look to secure stable and sustainable
alternative supply of critical minerals. Notably, Cobra's Boland Project's
HREE weighting is greater than other ionic rare earth projects with further
recovery upside.

 

Rupert Verco, Managing Director of Cobra, commented:

 

"We have long highlighted the importance of advancing alternative and secure
supply chains of critical rare earth minerals. Cobra is uniquely developing
what aims to be the world's first in situ recovery rare earth mine outside of
China, that will enable it to be cost competitive with China, with high
environmental stewardship.

 

We have an asset with the right geology, enriched in heavy rare earths and
amenable to the right mining process to bypass the environmental and
operational challenges associated with processing clay ores. We are well
positioned to benefit from increases in REE pricing and demand."

 

Boland Project

 

Cobra's unique and highly scalable Boland discovery is a strategically
advantageous ionic rare earth discovery where high grades of valuable heavy
and magnet rare earths occur concentrated in a permeable horizon confined by
impermeable clays. Bench scale ISR testing has confirmed that mineralisation
is amenable to ISR mining. ISR has been used successfully for decades within
geologically similar systems to recover uranium within South Australia.
Results of this metallurgical test work support that, with minor optimisation,
ISR techniques should enable non-invasive and low-cost production of critical
REEs from Cobra's Boland discovery.

 

Enquiries:

 

 Cobra Resources plc                           via Vigo Consulting

 Rupert Verco (Australia)                      +44 (0)20 7390 0234

 Dan Maling (UK)

 SI Capital Limited (Joint Broker)             +44 (0)1483 413 500

 Nick Emerson

 Sam Lomanto

 Global Investment Strategy (Joint Broker)     +44 (0)20 7048 9437

 James Sheehan                                 james.sheehan@gisukltd.com
 Vigo Consulting (Financial Public Relations)  +44 (0)20 7390 0234

 Ben Simons                                    cobra@vigoconsulting.com

 Kendall Hill

 

The person who arranged for the release of this announcement was Rupert Verco,
Managing Director of the Company.

 

About Cobra

 

In 2023, Cobra discovered a rare earth deposit with the potential to re-define
the cost of rare earth production. The highly scalable Boland ionic rare earth
discovery at Cobra's Wudinna Project in South Australia's Gawler Craton is
Australia's only rare earth project amenable for in situ recovery (ISR) mining
- a low cost, low disturbance method enabling bottom quartile recovery costs
without any need for excavation or ground disturbance. Cobra is focused on
de-risking the investment value of the discovery by proving ISR as the
preferred mining method and testing the scale of the mineralisation footprint
through drilling.

 

Cobra's Wudinna tenements also contain extensive orogenic gold mineralisation,
including a 279,000 Oz gold JORC Mineral Resource Estimate, characterised by
low levels of over-burden, amenable to open pit mining.

 

Regional map showing Cobra's tenements in the heart of the Gawler Craton

 

 

 

Follow us on social media:

 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cobraresourcesplc
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/cobraresourcesplc)

X: https://twitter.com/Cobra_Resources (https://twitter.com/Cobra_Resources)

 

Engage with us by asking questions, watching video summaries and seeing what
other shareholders have to say. Navigate to our Interactive Investor hub here:
https://investors.cobraplc.com/ (https://investors.cobraplc.com/)

 

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Appendix 1: Background information - the Boland Project and ISR

 

·    The Boland Project was discovered by Cobra in 2023. Mineralisation is
ionically bound to clays and organics within palaeochannel sands within the
Narlaby Palaeochannel

 

·    Mineralisation occurs within a permeable sand within an aquifer that
is saltier than sea water and is confined by impermeable clays

 

·    ISR is executed through engineered drillhole arrays that allow the
injection of mildly acidic ammonium sulphate lixiviants, using the confining
nature of the geology to direct and lower the acidity of the orebody. This
low-cost process enables mines to operate profitably at lower grades and lower
rates of recovery

 

·    Once REEs are mobile in solution in groundwater, it is also possible,
from an engineering standpoint, to recover the solution to surface via
extraction drillholes, without any need for excavation or ground disturbance

 

·    The capital costs of ISR mining are low as they involve no material
movements and do not require traditional infrastructure to process ore - i.e.
metals are recovered in solution

 

·    Ionic mineralisation is highly desirable owing to its high weighting
of valuable HREOs and the cost-effective method in which REEs can be desorbed

 

·    Ionic REE mineralisation in China is mined in an in-situ manner that
relies on gravity to permeate mineralisation. The style of ISR process is
unconfined and cannot be controlled, increasing the risk for environmental
degradation. This low-cost process has enabled China to dominate mine supply
of HREOs, supplying over 90% globally

 

·    Confined aquifer ISR is successfully executed globally within the
uranium industry, accounting for more than 60% of the world's uranium
production. This style of ISR has temporary ground disturbance, and the ground
waters are regenerated over time

 

·    Cobra is aiming to demonstrate the economic and environmental
benefits of recovering ionic HREOs through the more environmentally aquifer
controlled ISR - a world first for rare earths

 

Figure 1: Comparison between the Chinese and the proposed Boland process for
ISR mining of REEs

 

 

 

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