Highlights

• Cobra Resources completes assignment of exploration licenses 6742, 6774, and 6780 at Boland Project.
• Drilling and metallurgical testing are being accelerated with ISR results expected in February 2026.
• The company pursues a first-of-its-kind in-situ recovery (ISR) method for ionic rare earths, offering a potentially low-cost, low-disturbance alternative to Chinese operations amid tightening export controls.
• Stock trades at 4.2p as a high-risk exploration play with near-term catalysts expected in Q1-Q2 2026.
• Key risks include the absence of a JORC resource and an unproven field-scale ISR pilot until late 2026.

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Cobra Resources PLC ( (opens in a new tab)LSE: COBR, 4.21 GBX) has completed the formal assignment of new exploration tenements at its Boland Ionic Rare Earth Project in South Australia, removing a key regulatory bottleneck and enabling the company to accelerate drilling, metallurgical testing, and pilot-scale planning. The update lands amid heightened global concern over China’s tightening control of heavy rare earth supply, making any credible ex-China ionic rare earth pathway strategically relevant for investors.

What’s New—and What’s Material

The completion of Exploration Licenses 6742, 6774, and 6780 materially expands Boland’s land position and consolidates Cobra’s control over priority targets, including Head, Gillespie, and Stokes. Native title agreements are already in place, and environmental and regulatory applications are being expedited to allow drilling ahead of the late-April cropping season—reducing a common source of timeline risk for Australian juniors.

On metallurgy, Cobra reports that ISR (in-situ recovery) diagnostic tests on historical samples have been completed, with results expected in February 2026. A 65-kg ISR column leach study is advancing toward an optimized Mixed Rare Earth Carbonate (MREC) product, also targeted for February, to support preliminary offtake discussions. The development sequence—tenure → drilling → metallurgy → offtake—is coherent and technically logical.

ISR Claims: Credible, but Still Unproven at Scale

Boland’s core thesis is that a confined aquifer ISR model, adapted from uranium mining, could enable low-cost, low-disturbance recovery of heavy rare earth–rich ionic clays, potentially differentiating it from environmentally problematic Chinese operations. Bench-scale ISR test work supports the concept, and the focus on controlled aquifer chemistry is technically sound.

However, key risks remain:

• No JORC-compliant resource estimate yet
• No field-scale ISR pilot until late 2026 (target)
• Metallurgical results pending, not finalized

This is best viewed as optionality on technical success, not a de-risked development asset.

Stock Context: Optionality, Not Fundamentals—Yet

At roughly 4.2p, Cobra trades as a high-risk exploration stock rather than on reserves or cash flow. The market appears to ascribe limited value to the ISR thesis pending hard data on grades, recoveries, and hydrology. Near-term catalysts are clear (Q1–Q2 2026 drilling and metallurgy), but dilution risk remains typical for this stage.

Why This Matters for the U.S. and Allies

With China controlling roughly 90% of the heavy rare earth supply and tightening export oversight, any scalable, environmentally defensible ionic REE pathway outside China is strategically important. Boland does not yet solve the supply-chain challenge, but it aligns directionally with what the U.S. and allies must rebuild: allied-nation heavy rare earth production using lower-impact methods.

Critical Questions Investors Should Ask

• Can ISR deliver commercial recoveries across variable clay chemistry?
• Will regulators approve a world-first rare earth ISR pilot without delay?
• How competitive can MREC pricing be versus Chinese supply in weaker pricing cycles?

Source: Cobra Resources PLC RNS, 26 January 2026