Response to China’s Rare Earths Export Controls

Cobra (LSE: COBR), 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, notes China's decision on 4 April 2025 to place export restrictions on select rare earth elements ("REEs") as part of its response to U.S. tariffs.

Whilst the implemented measures are not expected to stop Chinese exports of select REE products altogether, the Company anticipates it will result in a slow-down and reduction of exports of products which are subject to export control measures, thereby tightening supply of critical minerals used in defence, electronics and a range of consumer goods.

As such, the Company believes that developing REE projects for reliable supply of dysprosium and terbium, which are among the heavy rare earth ("HREE") products to be placed on China's export control list, will become increasingly important as markets evolve and look to secure stable and sustainable alternative supply of critical minerals. Notably, Cobra's Boland Project's HREE weighting is greater than other ionic rare earth projects with further recovery upside.

Rupert Verco, Managing Director of Cobra, commented:

"We have long highlighted the importance of advancing alternative and secure supply chains of critical rare earth minerals. Cobra is uniquely developing what aims to be the world's first in situ recovery rare earth mine outside of China, that will enable it to be cost competitive with China, with high environmental stewardship.

We have an asset with the right geology, enriched in heavy rare earths and amenable to the right mining process to bypass the environmental and operational challenges associated with processing clay ores. We are well positioned to benefit from increases in REE pricing and demand."

Boland Project

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Appendix 1: Background information - the Boland Project and ISR

Figure 1: Comparison between the Chinese and the proposed Boland process for ISR mining of REEs