$KBX Copper Exploration

They Got In While Others Stayed Out Kobrea became the first international company to get drilling permits in Mendoza’s Western Malargüe Mining District, an area that was closed to exploration for decades. Major mining companies didn’t want to deal with Argentina’s complicated permitting process, so they stayed away. Kobrea spent years building relationships and working through the bureaucracy. In December 2025, they got full environmental approval for all their projects. They can now drill while bigger competitors are still waiting for permits or haven’t even tried. They’re In The Right Neighborhood Kobrea’s land sits in the same geological belt as the world’s 2nd and 3rd largest copper deposits: Rio Blanco-Los Bronces (134.8 million tons of copper) and El Teniente (128.5 million tons of copper). These massive deposits are just across the border in Chile. They’re exploring the same type of geology that created those giant mines, just on the Argentina side where nobody could get permits before. El Perdido: What They’re Drilling Now In January 2026, Kobrea started drilling at El Perdido. This is the first time anyone has ever drilled this ground. They found a large hydrothermal breccia system measuring 1,700m by 250m. This matters because the same type of breccia systems make up huge portions of those world-class deposits in Chile. The geology looks right: altered rock over several kilometers, quartz veins, and elevated copper-gold-molybdenum levels. These are the same indicators found at billion-ton deposits. Results from this drilling should come in the next few months. The Team Knows What They’re Doing Paul Johnston (Chief Geologist) spent 18 years at Teck Resources running their South American copper exploration from Santiago. He has 37 years finding copper deposits. Rory Ritchie (VP Exploration) has deep experience with porphyry copper systems and ran his own exploration company for 8 years. These aren’t promoters, they’re geologists who’ve actually found copper before. Why Copper Prices Are Going Up The world is running out of new copper mines. Very few major deposits have been discovered in the last ten years. Old mines are running out of ore. But demand is surging. Electric vehicles need 80kg of copper each versus 20kg for gas cars. Solar panels, wind turbines, charging stations, and grid upgrades all need massive amounts of copper. AI data centers require huge amounts of electrical wiring. Every aspect of electrification runs on copper. Major banks are predicting severe copper shortages in the next few years. When there’s not enough supply to meet demand, prices spike. Copper recently hit all-time highs above 5 dollars per pound. Many analysts expect 6-7 dollars or higher by 2030 as the shortage worsens. Why This Stock Could Multiply At under 25M market cap, Kobrea is extremely cheap if they find anything significant. They’re exploring for deposits that could contain tens of millions of tons of copper in a proven world-class belt. If the drilling at El Perdido shows good copper grades across a large area, the stock will jump immediately. Similar junior exploration companies in good locations typically trade at 50-150M market caps before they even calculate how much metal is there. That’s 2-6x from here just to reach average valuations for this type of company. If they actually discover something that looks like it could become a major deposit, we’re looking at potential 10-20x returns or more. Major mining companies are desperate for new copper supplies and will pay big premiums to buy promising projects. The Double Effect of Rising Copper Prices As copper prices rise, two things happen. First, the copper in the ground becomes more valuable. Second, deposits that weren’t worth mining at 4 dollars per pound suddenly become very profitable at 6 dollars per pound. This means exploration companies see their values increase much faster than the copper price itself. A 2 million ton copper deposit might be worth 500M at today’s prices. At higher copper prices with better economics, that same deposit could be valued at over 1 billion by a company looking to acquire it. What Happens Next Drilling results are coming in the next few months. One good drill hole showing strong copper mineralization could send this stock significantly higher overnight. The market isn’t paying attention yet, which is why the valuation is so low. The Setup They’re drilling in a world-class copper district. The permits are approved. The team has found copper deposits before. The drills are turning right now. And the market cap is less than what it costs most companies just to run a drilling program. Either they find copper and this stock reprices dramatically higher, or they don’t and it’s another exploration play that didn’t work. But when you’re buying at this valuation, in this location, with this team, the upside potential far outweighs the downside risk. The copper shortage is real. The location is proven. The timing is right. And almost nobody is paying attention yet.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​