REG - Cobra Resources PLC - Updates re Rare Earth & Gold Projects

Cobra ResourcesAnnouncement

10/04/2025 07:00

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RNS Number : 4007E  Cobra Resources PLC  10 April 2025

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10 April 2025

 

Cobra Resources plc

("Cobra" or the "Company")

 

Updates re Rare Earth & Gold Projects

 

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, is pleased to provide the following updates on
its Boland rare earths and Wudinna gold projects.

 

Boland Rare Earth Project

 

Sonic drilling to commence soon

 

Following recent aircore drilling which demonstrated rare earth enrichment
across a highly scalable footprint, all permitting approvals and pre-planning
for sonic drilling have now been completed. 10-15 holes (~500m) are due to be
drilled as soon as the Company's preferred contractor becomes available.

 

Sonic core drilling, which uses high-frequency, resonant energy to advance a
core barrel into subsurface formations, will investigate the mineralised
interface, where higher grades within the in situ recoverable zones can be
expected, and inform the Company's strategy for resource drilling. It will
also enable density measurements and greater geological definition to support
a forthcoming Mineral Resource Estimate.

 

Scaled metallurgy

 

The strategic importance of terbium ("Tb") and dysprosium ("Dy") has been
highlighted in current Chinese export control measures. The maiden Mixed Rare
Earth Carbonate produced from Boland ore is enriched in such heavy rare earths
and the Company believes its mining process and unique chemistry provides an
opportunity to further enrich the quantities of Dy and Tb through the
reduction of Cerium and Lanthanum. Follow-up metallurgical optimisation
studies will commence next month and will aim to reduce unvaluable REEs.
Low-cost measures including phased in situ recovery ("ISR") and the use of
oxidants within the impurity removal process will be explored.

 

Infield permeability testing

 

In further preparation for the planned infield ISR testing, two additional
monitoring bores were installed last month. This will support initial tracer
studies, aimed at evaluating production rates achievable through ISR, a low
cost, low environmental risk form of mining. To date, 12 months of baseline
environmental data have been captured, and the permitting and environmental
approval processes to permit field testing are underway.

 

Wudinna Gold Project

 

With gold trading at record high prices exceeding US$3,000 per ounce, the
Company is pleased to advise it is evaluating opportunities for resource
development and low-cost options for progressing the Wudinna Gold Project
towards production. While there can be no certainty as to the timing or
outcome of these advancements, the Board believes the gold development
opportunity at Wudinna is attractive to projects with operational synergies.

 

Wudinna has a 279,000 Oz defined JORC Gold Mineral Resource Estimate with
potential additional gold resource growth through infill and further
extensional drilling. There are a further 22 orogenic gold targets identified
with significant grades of between 16 g/t and 37.4 g/t gold outside of the
current resource. Notably, Wudinna's gold resource is shallow with all ounces
occurring within 200m of surface, presenting as suitable for low cost, camp
scale open pit extraction.

 

Rupert Verco, Managing Director of Cobra, commented:

 

"Building on a successful first stage of aircore drilling at Boland, higher
cost sonic drilling will more precisely investigate the mineralised interface,
demonstrating significant rare earth grade upside. In the current geopolitical
climate, with China placing export controls on certain rare earths, Cobra's
opportunity is to demonstrate Boland as a low-cost, environmentally
credentialled reliable source of terbium and dysprosium.

 

Separately, I am pleased to note the strong gold price is supporting possible
advancements in our gold assets where operational synergies could bring
forward a pathway to production."

 

Further information relating to Boland are presented in the appendices.

 

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

 Anna Stacey

 

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

 

Competent Persons Statement

 

Information in this announcement has been assessed by Mr Rupert Verco, a
Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Verco is an
employee of Cobra and has more than 17 years' industry experience which is
relevant to the style of mineralisation, deposit type, and activity which he
is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition
of the Australasian Code for Reporting Exploration Results, Mineral Resources
and Ore Reserves of JORC. This includes 13 years of Mining, Resource
Estimation and Exploration.

 

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

 

 

 

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Appendix 1: Background information - the Boland Project and ISR

 

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.

 

·    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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