Kobrea Exploration signed a strategic alliance with BHP Metals Exploration to work on seven copper projects in Malargüe Distrito Minero Occidental, Mendoza. The agreement incorporates the exploratory division of BHP in a first phase of project generation. Kobrea will continue as operator and the activities will be supervised by a committee with representatives from both companies.
BHP will make an initial payment of US$3 million and will finance a program over two years with a minimum investment of US$5 million. At the end of that period, it will be able to select up to four initiatives to negotiate them individually through progressive acquisition agreements. The structure creates investment options; it does not imply that BHP has already chosen the four projects or acquired stakes in them.
For each selected project, BHP may obtain 75% if it finances at least US$40 million in exploration over eight years. Once the conditions are met, a joint venture would be established with 75% for BHP and 25% for Kobrea. The amounts of US$40 million apply to each individual eventual agreement and depend on future selection and execution, so they should not be added as already committed disbursement across the entire portfolio.
The alliance arrives after the 2025-2026 campaign in El Perdido. Kobrea carried out six diamond drillings for 2.358 meters, the first within the district, in addition to geological mapping, geochemistry, spectral studies, and geophysics. The work identified a porphyry system with copper, gold, molybdenum, and silver; the company stated that the main core would not have been reached yet.
Kobrea has the right to acquire the 100% stake in the seven projects, which cover more than 733 square kilometers in southwestern Mendoza. The portfolio features targets defined by hydrothermal alteration, geochemical anomalies, veins, breccias, and intrusives. In El Destino baseline environmental studies and aerial magnetometry continue to plan possible subsequent drilling.
The company had expanded in September of 2025 a private placement up to C$8,5 million to finance exploration and drilling. The new agreement adds financial capacity and global experience to a stage that is still exploratory. The next data point will be the execution of the initial program and the eventual selection of projects by BHP; until then, the presence of mineralization does not equate to a defined economic resource nor to an approved mine.
