COBR Cobra Resources Plc

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF ARTICLE 7 OF REGULATION 2014/596/EU WHICH IS PART OF DOMESTIC UK LAW PURSUANT TO THE MARKET ABUSE (AMENDMENT) (EU EXIT) REGULATIONS (SI 2019/310) ("UK MAR"). UPON THE PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT, THIS INSIDE INFORMATION (AS DEFINED IN UK MAR) IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

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26 June 2024

Cobra Resources plc

("Cobra" or the "Company")

Yarranna Southeast Re-Assay Results:

High-grade uranium mineralisation

&

Validation of rare earth exploration strategy over scalable area

Cobra (LSE: COBR), an exploration company prioritising a strategy to lower the cost of critical rare earth production at its Boland Project in South Australia, is pleased to announce further re-assay results from the Yarranna Southeast prospect.

Yarranna Southeast is located on the Pureba exploration licence at the Company's Western Eyre Peninsula Project. Re-assaying of 25 holes and 674 samples validates historical reports of uranium mineralisation and has enabled Cobra to refine and interpret mineralised roll-fronts, defining priority drill targets for high-grade uranium mineralisation and ionic rare earths ("REEs").

In addition to REEs, the Company's extensive 4,773 km² Gawler Craton landholding hosts shallow gold resources and several sandstone hosted uranium occurrences. These re-assay results are an important step in the Company's pathway to refining scalable ionic REE targets while simultaneously advancing non-core assets.

Highlights

·    Re-assays confirm economic uranium with significant upside: IR1435 intersects 3m at 476 ppm U₃O₈ from 72m, including 1m at 789 ppm U₃O₈ from 72m

o  Re-assay of IR1435 is a 40% increase in grade compared to the historical reported grade of 3m at 340 ppm U₃O₈

·    High-grade target zone identified: historical drilling occurred at ~500m x 500m spacing. Oxidation and reduction mapping of historical drilling samples indicate that high-grade roll-front mineralisation is likely to exist between, and south of, existing drilling. All previously reported intersections are interpreted as mineralised "tails" that remain behind more fertile REDOX conditions

·    Enriched system with high-grade mineralisation: IsoEnergy's (TSX-V: ISO) adjacent Yarranna Uranium Project extends onto Cobra's Pureba licence and includes four defined uranium occurrences, being Yarranna North, Central, South, and Southeast, where roll-fronts contain broad zones of mineralisation and high-grade intersections up to 3,550 ppm U₃O₈

·    Confirmation of REE mineralisation: REE mineralisation confirmed within the Padinga formation, the geological unit that hosts ionic REE mineralisation at the Boland Project, where the Company is advancing recovery via in situ recovery ("ISR") mining

·    Validation of ionic REE strategy: REE intersections only occur in front of roll-front oxidation, confirming the Company's thesis that palaeochannel hosted REEs with higher grades are present within reduced palaeosediments down stream of roll-front uranium mineralisation

·    Significant scale potential: the Pureba licence covers over 700km² of the Narlaby Palaeochannel, representing significant scale to support mineralisation already defined at Boland

·    Magnet and heavy rare earth enrichment: intersections where Magnet Rare Earth Oxides ("MREO") are up to 31% of the Total Rare Earth Oxide ("TREO") and Heavy Rare Earth Oxides ("HREO") up to 27%

·    Increased footprint at the Katatta target: high-grade intersections within palaeochannel sediments outside the current channel interpretation, including 2m at 2,295 ppm TREO where Pr₆O₁₁+ Nd₂O₃ totals 413 ppm and Tb₂O₃+ Dy₂O₃ totals 31 ppm

Rupert Verco, CEO of Cobra, commented:

"These results re-affirm that Cobra has a province scale ionic rare earth system that is different to other projects, owing to its potential to be mined through a materially lower cost process - in situ recovery. Our technical team developed this alternative model and is now validating our exploration strategy to grow a scalable resource with a commercial point of difference.  

Not only is roll-front uranium mineralisation a signpost to high-grade REEs, but it also has the potential to economically complement a future ISR mining operation. South Australia is home to Australia's only operating ISR uranium mines and current favourable market dynamics for nuclear energy have reinvigorated interest in identifying and advancing uranium assets amenable to ISR.

We recognise our exceptional opportunity to be the leaders in low-cost heavy and magnet rare earth production and are therefore assessing several options to advance uranium exploration across our highly prospective land tenure. By utilising all data at our disposal, we have cost effectively refined a high-value uranium target and identified priority areas for scalable REE mineralisation."

Rare Earth Intersections

Signature REE re-assay intersections that occur immediately south (in-front) of defined REDOX controlled uranium mineralisation at Yarranna Southeast:

·    IR 1274 intersects 2m at 788 ppm TREO, where Nd2O3 + Pr6O11 totals 187 ppm and Tb2O3 + Dy2O3 totals 22 ppm from 44m

·    IR 1187 intersects 4m at 783 ppm TREO, where Nd2O3 + Pr6O11 totals 207 ppm and Tb2O3 + Dy2O3 totals 22 ppm from 60m

·    IR 1175 intersects 8m at 789 ppm TREO, where Nd2O3 + Pr6O11 totals 232 ppm and Tb2O3 + Dy2O3 totals 14 ppm from 64m, and 4m at 800 ppm TREO, where Nd2O3 + Pr6O11 totals 224 ppm and Tb2O3 + Dy2O3 totals 17 ppm from 74m

·    IR 1173 intersected 4m at 602 ppm TREO, where Nd2O3 + Pr6O11 totals 115 ppm and Tb2O3 + Dy2O3 totals 8 ppm from 82m

Signature REE intersections from the Yaninnie Palaeochannel include:

·    2m at 2,295 ppm TREO, where Pr6O11+ Nd2O3 totals 413 ppm and Tb2O3+ Dy2O3 totals 31 ppm

Uranium Intersections

Re-assaying has produced the following significant uranium intersections at Yarranna Southeast:

·    IR1435 intersects 3m at 476 ppm U₃O₈ from 72m including 1m at 789 ppm U₃O₈ from 72m

·    IR1436 intersects 1m at 90 ppm U₃O₈ from 66m

·    IR1175 intersects 2m at 55 ppm U₃O₈ from 56m

·    IR1415 intersects 3m at 54 ppm U₃O₈ from 92m, and 2m at 49 ppm U₃O₈ from 96m, and 1m at 43 ppm U₃O₈ from 100m

·    IR1419 intersects 3m at 43 ppm U₃O₈ from 93m

Key information concerning reported uranium intersections:

·    All reported intersections are interpreted as limbs or tails, and not roll-fronts

·    Priority targeting for high-grade roll-front mineralisation is interpreted to occur between, and south of, drillholes IR1435 - IR1436 (see figures 1, 2 and 3 in appendices)

·    Not all historical intersections could be re-assayed as samples were not stored owing to radioactivity levels and had been disposed prior

Enquiries:

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

Information in this announcement relates to exploration results that have been reported in the following announcements:

·    Wudinna Project Update: "REE Exploration to include Uranium", dated 12 February 2024

·    Wudinna Project Update: "Re-Assay Results Confirm High Grades Over Exceptional Scale at Boland", dated 26 April 2024

·    Wudinna Project Update: "Historical Drillhole Re-Assay Results", dated 27 February 2024

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 16 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 11 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 Project in South Australia's Gawler Craton is Australia's only ionic rare earth project amenable for in situ recovery (ISR) mining - a low cost, low disturbance method. Cobra is focused on de-risking the investment value of the discovery by proving ISR as the preferred mining method which would eliminate challenges associated with processing clays and provide Cobra with the opportunity to define a low-cost pathway to production.

Cobra's Wudinna Project tenements also contain extensive orogenic gold mineralisation, including a 279,000 Oz gold JORC Mineral Resource Estimate, characterised by potentially open-pitable, high-grade gold intersections.

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

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Interpretation of Results

Appendix 1: Context to dual uranium and rare earth strategy

REEs and uranium are sourced from similar minerals such as zircon, monazite, and xenotime within the enriched Hiltaba Suite granites of the Gawler Craton. Natural weathering and supergene leaching mobilises both uranium and REEs within acidic (and enriched) groundwaters that migrate through the Narlaby system. Whilst the chemistry for the secondary deposition for REDOX and ionic adsorption differ, the geological mechanisms that promote the oxidation for REDOX roll-fronts are likely to produce chemical boundaries that promote physisorption (the adsorption of REEs to clays). This warrants that the exploration approach targets oxidation sources that promote the leaching, transportation and deposition of both REEs and uranium.

Figure 1: Yarranna Southeast significant uranium and rare earth re-assay results

REDOX Chemistry and Targeting Uranium Mineralisation

·    Cobra's large landholding covers extensive palaeochannel systems. These contain multiple uranium targets that complement the Company's ISR REE strategy. Key uranium prospects and historical signature intersections include:

o  Yarranna Southeast - IR1435: 3m at 476 ppm U₃O₈ from 72m, including 1m at 789 ppm U₃O₈ from 72m

o  Kattata - AC06KA019: 3m at 141 ppm from 43m, including 1m at 271 ppm U₃O₈ from 45m

o  Yarranna Far North - NW007: 1m at 200 ppm U₃O₈ from 64m (tenement under application)

o  Corrobinnie - CBM0007: 6m at 221 ppm U₃O₈ from 28m, including 2m at 338 ppm U₃O₈ from 30m

o  Pinkawillinie - KO11S-1149: 1m at 613 ppm U₃O₈ from 48m

o  Ulysses - ULY-1107: 1m at 330 ppm U₃O₈ from 39m

Historical drilling by Carpentaria Exploration defined roll-front hosted uranium at Yarranna Southeast during the 1980s. Key observations from re-assaying and the interpretation of historical work include:

·    Historical groundwater samples yield high acidities (pH2.7) with high dissolved uranium grades (up to 12,300 ug/L)¹ indicating an active and fertile environment for roll-front hosted uranium mineralisation

·    Uranium mineralisation occurs at a migrating REDOX front between acidic, oxidising fluids and reduced sediments. All uranium mineralisation reported at Yarranna Southeast is interpreted to be remnant "tail" mineralisation, where mineralisation remains at reduced boundaries between oxidised sands and reduced clays

·    Broad spaced drilling has enabled the interpretation of oxidised and reduced zones, enabling the interpretation of a likely higher-grade roll-front position (figures 2-3)

Figure 2: Cross section highlighting intersections and their interpreted proximity to a roll-front

1 Open file envelopes No. 3715 & 4010, Carpentaria Exploration Co Pty Ltd, 1981 & 1984

Table 1: Significant uranium intersections

Figure 3: Photo of downhole samples from IR1435-1437. Oxidation zone below mineralisation evident in IR1435 (82 - 91m) whilst the same channel sand in IR1436 is strongly reduced

Appendix 2: Cobra's REE strategy

·    Cobra's extensive South Australian land tenure extends to 4,773km² and covers large portions of three palaeochannel systems: the Narlaby, Yaninee and Corrobinne Palaeochannels

·    Scalable ionic REE mineralisation has been identified at the Company's Boland Project, where high recoveries have been demonstrated

·    Ionic clay hosted rare earths present as a low capital, low operating cost source of heavy and magnet rare earth metals

·    Processing of clay ores induces several operating challenges, including productivity loss, material handling, dewatering, reagent use and reclamation

·    Ionic rare earth mineralisation at Boland exists in permeable geology in an environment that permits ISR, thus bypassing the challenges associated with processing of clay ores

·    ISR is the preferred method of recovery used in the uranium industry, where¹:

o  Global ISR production accounted for ~60% of mined uranium in 2022

o  Capital expenditure for ISR is 10-15% of conventional mines

o  Operating costs of ISR is generally 30-40% lower than traditional mines

o  Environmental impact and rehabilitation cost is significantly lower than traditional mines

·    South Australia is home to Australia's only three operating ISR uranium mines and has a regulatory framework that supports ISR mining

·    Bench-scale leach studies under ISR conditions are currently underway at ANSTO, a first for ionic REE projects outside of China

·    Cobra has installed a wellfield to rapidly advance the project towards an infield pilot study

·    Cobra aims to demonstrate that the cost of production at Boland can be materially reduced via ISR, providing operating resilience to volatile rare earth markets which has stalled the commencement of many rare earth projects

·    Re-assaying of historical uranium focused drilling is being used to refine the potential scale of rare earth mineralisation. These results confirm the presence of rare earth mineralisation over a strike of 1km at Boland, where mineralisation is open in most directions. Follow-up drilling will aim to infill these results to support a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") at the Boland Project

·    Further re-assay results presented in this release confirm the province scale potential of ionic REEs within the Narlaby Palaeochannel and increase the footprint of mineralisation on the Yaninee Palaeochannel

Appendix 3: REE re-assay results

Yarranna Southeast Prospect

Oxidising fluids at Yarranna Southeast are highly acidic, with historical water samples yielding acidities as low as pH 2.7. These acidic fluids are expected to desorb REEs from organic sediments and transport them beyond REDOX roll-fronts. This natural process of mobilisation is the process Cobra aims to emulate through ISR. The re-assay results indicate:

·    REEs are present within reduced sediments in front of oxidising fluids

·    REEs are no longer present in oxidised sediments behind roll-front mineralisation. The likely desorption and re-mobilisation are expected to result in REE enriched fluids and elevated grades in sediments downstream of oxidising fronts

·    Future drilling programmes will be designed to test reduced sediments "downstream" of oxidised zones

Further Results from Yaninee Palaeochannel

On 27 February 2024, the Company reported re-assay results from historical drilling at the Katatta Prospect located on the Yaninee Palaeochannel, ~30km southwest of the Boland Project. These results confirmed REE mineralisation in the Yaninee Palaeochannel.  

·    Assays from a further two holes located outside the interpreted paleochannel demonstrate a significant extension to the Yaninee footprint and confirm the presence of high-grade REEs within the Padinga formation

·    A further batch of holes are being re-assayed considering initial results within Yaninee Palaeochannel sediments

Table 2: REE intersections from Yarranna Southeast and the Yaninee Palaeochannel

*Drillhole from EL6806 - located on EL6806

Figure 4: REE intersections expanding the footprint for mineralisation within the Yaninee Palaeochannel

MREO = Pr₆O₁₁+ Nd₂O₃+ Tb₂O₃+ Dy₂O₃

HREO = Sm₂O₃+ Eu₂O₃+ Gd₂O₃+ Tb₂O₃+ Dy₂O₃+Ho₂O₃+Er₂O₃+Tm₂O₃+Tm₂O₃+Yb₂O₃+Lu₂O₃+Y₂O₃

Appendix 4: JORC Code, 2012 Edition - Table 1

Section 1 Sampling Techniques and Data

Appendix 5

Section 1 Sampling Techniques and Data

Appendix 6 Collar Coordinates