LONDON: Cobra Resources, listed on the London Stock Exchange as COBR, has reached a significant milestone in its operations at the Wudinna Project in South Australia. The company has announced with pleasure that all the conditions precedent to the Wudinna Sale Agreement with Andromeda Metals, traded on the Australian Securities Exchange as ADN, have been met.
This achievement entitles Cobra to the remaining 25% interest in the Wudinna Project, culminating in full ownership.
The Wudinna Project is noteworthy for its Boland ionic rare earth discovery, the established Wudinna Gold JORC Resource, and the presence of uranium occurrences. The details of the Agreement, which now sees Cobra holding 100% ownership, are available in the Company’s Prospectus published on January 16, 2024. This document can be accessed on the company’s website under the investors’ section.
Among the highlights of this acquisition, Cobra has emphasized the strategic importance of gaining complete control over the project. This move is expected to enhance the company’s optionality, particularly in the context of the strong gold and uranium markets. Cobra has also prioritized defining the economics of extracting ionic rare earth elements through In Situ Recovery (ISR) mining. The Boland discovery’s geology is uniquely permeable, making it suitable for this low-cost and low-disturbance mining method.
Cobra’s board and management team, who have prior experience with South Australia’s operational ISR uranium mines, believe that the company can achieve lower capital and operational costs by treating clays via ISR compared to typical ionic clay projects. A work programme has been designed to demonstrate the scale of ionic REE mineralization and the cost advantage of ISR extraction.
In terms of upcoming results, Cobra is awaiting the analysis of 233 samples from historical drilling, which will provide insights into the scale of Boland mineralization. Additionally, 869 samples have been submitted for re-assay to further evaluate the extent of the mineralization and its potential reach across Cobra’s 2,000km² of palaeochannel land tenure. Furthermore, the Australian Nuclear, Scientific and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) is preparing a column leach trial on core recovered from Boland to test the recovery potential under ISR conditions, with results expected in June. This comprehensive approach underscores Cobra’s commitment to advancing the Wudinna Project and maximizing its value in the rare earth market.
Rupert Verco, CEO of Cobra, commented: “It is pleasing to complete the Agreement and obtain 100% ownership of Wudinna, which is an exceptionally prospective landholding containing gold resources, uranium mineralisation and, of course, the transformational ionic rare earths discovery. Given the strong gold and uranium markets, we are evaluating how to best progress our existing gold resource and highly prospective uranium assets whilst we focus on advancing the Boland rare earths discovery.
We expect to be able to bring further rare earth re-assay results to the market imminently which test Cobra’s modelled scale, followed by ISR column leach results. These workflows are important in demonstrating the economic significance of ISR to ionic rare earth mining.
ISR mining has changed the supply of uranium over the last 30 years – we hope to emulate this in the magnet and heavy rare earth markets.”
