Chilean Cobalt Corp. Consortium Awarded Corfo R&D Project Funding to Advance Sustainable Cobalt Recovery from Mining Waste

BERWYN, PA / ACCESS Newswire / January 20, 2026 / Chilean Cobalt Corp. (OTCQB:COBA) ("Chilean Cobalt" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Corfo has awarded funding to a consortium that includes Chilean Cobalt for a research and development project to sustainably recover cobalt from tailings and mining waste, supporting the Company's focus on innovation, circular economy practices, and responsible critical minerals development in Chile.

The project forms part of Corfo's program, "R&D Challenges for Sustainable Productive Development," a national initiative designed to accelerate the adoption of advanced technologies that improve environmental performance, generate new opportunities, and strengthen Chile's position in strategic critical minerals supply chains. Through this program, Corfo recently awarded funding to three R&D projects focused on sustainable recovery of cobalt, rare earth elements, and lithium.

Chilean Cobalt is a member of the consortium selected to develop the cobalt-focused initiative, alongside Universidad Andrés Bello (UNAB), Universidad de Chile (through UNTEC), Pucobre (SSE: PUCOBRE), and Empresa Nacional de Minería (ENAMI). The project, titled "Sustainable Cobalt: a semi-industrial validation of the green cobalt biotechnological process integrated into an extractive metallurgical strategy with a focus on tailings and circular mining," incorporates the "Green Cobalt" process, based on optimized bacterial bioleaching technology to extract cobalt from residual materials.

"We are honored to be a key project team member in the Sustainable Cobalt project," said Duncan T. Blount, Chairman and CEO of Chilean Cobalt. "This represents a considerable opportunity to develop new sustainable supply chains by using cutting-edge technologies for the recovery of cobalt and other critical minerals from mine waste at La Cobaltera and other areas around Chile. This complements our mineral exploration work and provides a strategic opportunity for deeper cooperation and investment between the United States and Chile."

A central component of the project is the validation of the Green Cobalt bioleach technology at Pucobre's Biocobre plant in the Atacama Region (Copiapó), allowing for testing and optimization under real industrial operating conditions. Over a three-year execution period, the initiative aims to define technically and economically viable recovery processes for cobalt recovery, assess competitiveness relative to conventional extraction methods, and evaluate environmental feasibility through comprehensive remediation and monitoring protocols.