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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1 October 2024

Cobra Resources plc

("Cobra" or the "Company")

ISR Bench Scale Study Delivers Exceptional Results

Supports future operation in the lowest quartile for costs of rare earth miners globally

Cobra (LSE: COBR), the mineral exploration and development company advancing a potentially world-class ionic Rare Earth Elements ("REEs") discovery at its Boland Project in South Australia, is pleased to announce the following results from bench scale In Situ Recovery ("ISR") trials:

·    Bench scale trials have successfully demonstrated the ISR recovery process - a low-cost mining method with low environmental disturbance

·    Strong recoveries - 50% Total Rare Earth Oxides ("TREO") and 48% valuable Magnet Rare Earth Oxides ("MREO") recovered by lowering the sample pH from 7.1 to 3.6, a relatively benign adjustment in acidity. This testwork is ongoing and recoveries are expected to increase

·    Further extraction upside - recoveries of up to 84% Neodymium and Praseodymium ("NdPr") and 88% Dysprosium and Terbium ("DyTb") (some of the key rare earths underpinning the energy transition) achieved in optimisation tests with adjustments to lixiviant with minimal impact on impurities and processing costs

·    Low levels of impurities (deleterious elements) and low levels of acid consumption

Follow this link to watch a short video of CEO Rupert Verco explaining the results released in this announcement: https://investors.cobraplc.com/link/oPBwVy. Investors are also invited to submit any questions from this announcement directly to the management team via the hub.

Rupert Verco, CEO of Cobra, commented:

"These extremely pleasing results highlight the advantage that the Boland Project's unique geology presents compared to peers globally. They support a future operation that could produce critical heavy rare earth metals sustainably and from a cost base that could be competitive with the lowest quartile of REE miners globally. As a Company, we do not make that statement without strong supporting evidence. This year, we aimed to de-risk and highlight our investment opportunity by:

1.    Expanding our already significant land position to over 5,200km² and defining mineralisation over a massive regional footprint

2.    Demonstrating mineralisation occurs within permeable geology where concentrated grades occur up to 0.7% TREO

3.    Achieving high recoveries by a low-cost mining and extraction process that differentiates the Boland Project from others globally

Rare earth projects are complex but the fundamentals that underpin mining profitability apply: scale, grade, and low capital and operating costs. We are demonstrating that the Boland Project meets all these fundamentals. Shareholders can look forward to further news flow as we look to advance the project towards commercialisation."

Cobra's unique and highly scalable Boland discovery is a strategically advantageous ionic Rare Earth discovery where high grades of valuable Heavy Rare Earths ("HREOs") and Magnet Rare Earths ("MREOs") 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.

Cobra engaged the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation ("ANSTO") to execute a detailed work programme to confirm and optimise the recovery of REEs through the ISR process. Highlights include:

·    Low capital mining process: the permeability of the orebody is used to percolate lixiviant. A permeation rate of 0.13 pore volumes per day is being achieved which is comparable to operating ISR uranium mines. This demonstrates that geological conditions can be used to mitigate the cost of capital infrastructure for ore handling and processing

·    High desorption recoveries to date: rare earths commenced reporting to solution when the Pregnant Liquor Solution ("PLS") in the column dropped below pH 5.2 and rapidly continued until the PLS reached its current level of pH 3.6. Achieved recoveries to date are: 50% TREO, 48% MREO and 43% HREO with further recoveries expected with increased time

·    Further recovery upside: optimisation tests demonstrate that using a pH 2.0 lixiviant may increase recoveries up to 78% Pr, 86% Nd, 86% Dy and 87% Tb which have been achieved in diagnostic leaches performed on three composite samples

·    Low acid consumption: total sulphuric acid consumption of 15.0 kg per tonne of ore treated in column ISR study

·    Low impurity levels: low levels of impurities (deleterious elements) compared to recovered rare earths support a low cost, simple process for purification

·    These extremely pleasing results highlight the advantage that the Boland Project's unique geology presents compared to peers globally. ISR removes the need for mine excavation, ore handling, physical processing and tailings dams whilst reducing environmental disturbance

·    Approvals are in place to commence resource drilling as a precursor to a Scoping Study

Further information relating to metallurgical results are presented in the appendices.

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: "ISR bench scale update - Exceptionally high recoveries with low impurities and low acid consumption; on path to disrupt global supply
of heavy rare earths", dated 28 August 2024

·    Wudinna Project Update: "ISR bench scale update -Further metallurgical success at world leading ISR rare earth project", dated 11 July 2024

·    Wudinna Project Update: "ISR bench scale update - Exceptional head grades revealed", dated 18 June 2024

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

·    Wudinna Project Update: "Drilling results from Boland Prospect", dated 25 March 2024

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

·    Wudinna Project Update: "Ionic Rare Earth Mineralisation at Boland Prospect", dated 11 September 2023

·    Wudinna Project Update: "Exceptional REE Results Defined at Boland", dated 20 June 2023

Competent Persons Statement

The information in this report that relates to metallurgical results is based on information compiled by Cobra Resources and reviewed by Mr Conrad Wilkins who is the Group Process Engineering Lead at Wallbridge Gilbert Aztec, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (FAusIMM), Chartered Professional Engineer and Member of Engineers Australia (CPEng MIEAust). Mr Wilkins has sufficient experience that is relevant to the metallurgical testing which was undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 edition of the "Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves". Mr Wilkins consents to the inclusion in this report of the matters based on this information in the form and context in which it appears.

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 12 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. 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 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

·    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

Appendix 2: ISR study process and results

The bench scale ISR study conducted by ANSTO is based on a process routinely implemented to demonstrate the amenability of uranium ores to be mined via ISR. ISR is enabled by orebody permeability. These characteristics enable multiple steps to be removed from the traditional mining and processing. The objective of the study was to demonstrate and identify optimal parameters in which ISR could be utilised to minimise the economics of recovering REEs. The test parameters are scaled to emulate the actual field process. A photograph of the test sample is detailed in Figure 2.

The ISR process occurs in two phases:

1.    Preconditioning: The period where injection and extraction occurs to impregnate the orebody and modify the acidity of the aquifer. It took approximately 10 pore volumes (~80 days) to lower the pH from 7.1 to 5.7. Through this period acid consumption occurred due to the presence of minor acid consuming minerals. When the PLS pH dropped below pH 5.7, REEs began reporting to the PLS

2.    Extraction: When the acidity reaches a point in which the ion exchange can occur, REE recovery commences. In this circumstance, this occurred from pH 5.7. REEs reported to the PLS during 5 pore volumes (~34 days)

Figure 2: ANSTO bench scale ISR test

Results of the study demonstrate:

·    Orebody characteristics are amenable to ISR mining - a maximum permeability rate of 0.16 pore volumes per day which is similar to permeability rates of operating uranium mines

·    Robust ionic REE recoveries of 50% TREO, 48% MREO and 43% HREO achieved before the PLS pH reached pH 3.5

·    Low acid consumption of 15.0 kg/t sulphuric acid (H₂SO₄)

·    High purity REE extraction: low impurity levels that support a simple purification process. This enables further optimisation to increase recoveries. PLS impurity concentrations shown in the table below

Table 1: Achieved recoveries in PLS (mg/L) of REE and impurities during the extraction phase of the ISR process

Figure 3: Cumulative recoveries of REE to PLS plotted against PLS acidity

Optimisation Results

Bench scale results contain low levels of impurities including low levels of uranium and thorium (radionuclides), therefore there is an opportunity to increase REE recoveries through lixiviant optimisation. In parallel with the bench scale ISR test, optimisation analyses have been performed to determine optimal recovery conditions, whilst maintaining low impurity levels.

Samples from a second core hole (CBSC0002) have been subject to diagnostic leach tests at varying acidities. Results demonstrate:

·    Increasing recoveries with minor increases in acidity

·    Maximum recoveries achieved at pH 2 being: 84% Nd, 78% Pr, 86% Dy, 87% Tb from high grade samples

·    Minor increases in acid consumption at increased acidity

·    Increased impurity levels are offset by increased recoveries of REE

Based on the results of diagnostic tests, in situ recoveries can be increased by lowering the injected lixiviant pH to 2. Further bench scale tests are being prepared to test the ability to shorten the preconditioning period and increase recoveries.

Figure 4: Average recoveries achieved from diagnostic leach tests at pH 2, 2.5 & 3

Table 2: Sample head grades and associated diagnostic recoveries

Appendix 3: JORC Code, 2012 Edition - Table 1

Appendix 4: Section 2 reporting of exploration results

Table 3: Drillhole coordinates