BERWYN, PA / ACCESS Newswire / July 14, 2026 / Chilean Cobalt Corp. (OTCQB:COBA) ("Chilean Cobalt" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the successful completion of the Phase 1 (Tranche 1) work program under its Binding Earn-In and Option Agreement with NeoRe SpA ("NeoRe") for the NeoRe Rare Earth Project ("NeoRe" or the "Project") in southern Chile. The Company is now actively executing the Phase 2 (Tranche 2) work program, with continued progress across exploration, metallurgical development, engineering, permitting, and strategic partner engagement.
Completion of Phase 1 marks an important milestone in the Company's evaluation of the Project, satisfying the initial technical objectives under the Earn-In and Option Agreement, including geological data collection, preliminary geological modeling, and assessment of mineral continuity and overall project potential. Building on that foundation, Phase 2 activities are focused on expanding exploration, metallurgical testing, engineering studies, and permitting to support the Project's continued development.
Exploration has now reached approximately 2,000 meters year-to-date through parallel drilling programs. At the pilot plant, Batch 3 has entered processing while carbonate washing continues for Batches 1 and 2, maintaining continuous production of rare earth carbonate concentrate. Initial batches of NeoRe's rare earth carbonate concentrate have also been shipped to prospective U.S.-based strategic processing and off-take partners for downstream testing and evaluation, representing an important step towards validating the Project's processing capabilities and supporting future commercial relationships.
Mine Conceptual Engineering is progressing, establishing the technical basis for future project permitting, while advancing evaluation of development scenarios at production capacities of approximately 5,000 and 10,000 tonnes per month. Equipment procurement activities have also continued, with quotations received from multiple suppliers for key processing equipment, including the trommel, ball mill, and filter press.
The Company has further strengthened its exploration strategy by consolidating its exploration portfolio into a unified ranking of 168 targets across the defined districts, with screening initiated on additional prospects. Environmental and permitting activities continue to progress through updates to the Project's Environmental Rankings, refinement of the permitting roadmap, and continued definition of the future Industrial Plan permitting strategy.