Mr. Craig Hallworth reports

GUNNISON COPPER LAUNCHES MAJOR DISTRICT-WIDE DRILLING PROGRAM TO SUPPORT RESOURCE EXPANSION, METALLURGICAL OPTIMIZATION, AND RESOURCE CONVERSION

Gunnison Copper Corp. has planned a major district-wide drilling program at its Gunnison copper project, including the Strong & Harris satellite deposit, located in Arizona's Cochise mining district.

The entire drilling program has now been fully contracted and committed, with drill rig mobilization expected to commence this month. The program consists of up to 120 drill holes totalling approximately 138,000 feet (42,000 metres) of drilling and is designed to support continuing prefeasibility study (PFS) work program activities, resource expansion, metallurgical optimization and resource conversion across the company's district-scale copper assets.

"We are moving forward with a great sense of urgency to deliver on our vision of fuelling America's security and prosperity by acting to rapidly increase the domestic copper supply," said Craig Hallworth, president and chief executive officer of Gunnison Copper. "This program is designed not only to potentially add more copper to our flagship project, but also support metallurgical optimization and the resource conversion required to support a mineral reserve in our planned PFS."

Work will begin with metallurgical optimization drilling utilizing two drill rigs until the construction of a new larger core processing and storage facility is completed, expected during the third quarter of 2026, after which the company plans to increase drilling capacity to as many as six drill rigs. The total direct cost of the drill program and associated laboratory testing is estimated at $15-million (U.S.). excluding employee payroll, with preliminary results expected within six months and full results within 12 to 15 months.

Metallurgical optimization

The metallurgical program is expected to include up to 36 drill holes totalling approximately 33,000 feet (10,000 metres) of representative samples across the Gunnison and Strong & Harris deposits.

The objective is to provide additional samples for continuing metallurgical test work, engineering studies and mine planning activities supporting the company's PFS work program and permitting initiatives. This includes a material increase in column leach tests, which are the industry standard for predicting and optimizing full-scale copper heap leaching. Up to 270 column-leach tests are planned over the next 12 months.

Resource expansion and conversion

Following completion of the initial metallurgical drilling phase, the company will focus on a comprehensive resource drilling program expected to include up to 84 drill holes totalling approximately 105,000 feet (32,000 metres).

The objectives of the resource drilling program include:

• Resource expansion through testing extensions of known mineralization and identifying new mineralized zones;
• Upgrading inferred mineral resources to measured and indicated categories;
• Further defining the limits of mineralization at both the Gunnison and Strong & Harris deposits;
• Evaluating the continuation of the Gunnison mineralized system at depth.

District-scale opportunity

The Gunnison copper project and the Strong & Harris satellite deposit form part of Gunnison's district-scale land package in Arizona's Southern copper belt. The company believes significant opportunities remain to expand and further define mineralization across multiple deposits located within economic trucking distance of the planned processing infrastructure.

About Gunnison Copper Corp.

Gunnison Copper is a multiasset pure play copper developer and producer that controls the Cochise mining district, containing 12 known deposits within an eight-kilometre economic radius, in the Southern Arizona copper belt.

Its flagship asset, the Gunnison copper project, has a main pit measured and indicated mineral resource containing over 846 million tons with a total copper grade of 0.33 per cent (measured mineral resource of 192 million tons at 0.37 per cent and indicated mineral resource of 655 million tons at 0.31 per cent

The Strong & Harris satellite deposit, located approximately 1.9 miles from the Gunnison processing facilities, is also included in the mine plan and hosts an inferred mineral resource of 76 million tons grading 0.49 per cent total copper (0.32 per cent CuOx (oxide copper)) at a 0.07-per-cent cut-off, 0.56 per cent zinc and 0.12 per cent silver, containing approximately 740 million pounds of copper, including 483 million pounds of oxide copper, as well as zinc (856 million pounds) and silver (9.0 million ounces).

A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) was completed in March, 2026, for the Gunnison project yielding robust economics, including a net present value (discounted at 8 per cent) of $2-billion, an internal rate of return of 23 per cent and payback period of 3.9 years. It is being developed as a conventional operation with open-pit mining, heap leach and a solvent extraction/electrowinning (SX/EW) refinery to produce finished copper cathode on site with direct rail link. The PEA is preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. There is no certainty that the conclusions reached in the PEA will be realized. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.

In addition, Gunnison's Johnson Camp asset, which is now in production, is fully financed by Nuton LLC, a Rio Tinto Venture, with a production capacity of up to 25 million pounds of finished copper cathode annually.

Other significant deposits controlled by Gunnison in the district, with potential to be economic satellite feeder deposits for Gunnison project infrastructure, include South Star and eight other deposits.

For additional information on the Gunnison project, please refer to the technical report titled "Gunnison Project NI 43-101 Technical Report, Preliminary Economic Assessment, Cochise County, Arizona, USA," with an effective date of March 18, 2026, filed on SEDAR+.

For additional information on the Johnson Camp mine, please refer to the technical report titled "Johnson Camp Mine NI 43-101 Technical Report, Cochise County, Arizona, USA," with an effective date of March 18, 2026, filed on SEDAR+.

Dr. Roland Goodgame, senior vice-president of project development of the company, is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Dr. Goodgame has reviewed and is responsible for the technical information contained in this news release.

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