Mr. Craig Hallworth reports

GUNNISON COPPER APPOINTS U.S. DEFENSE SECTOR EXECUTIVE AS CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Gunnison Copper Corp. has appointed Jennifer Hays as chief financial officer (CFO), effective Oct. 12, 2026.

Fabio Rocha, who has served as the company's interim chief financial officer, will be promoted to senior director, accounting and reporting, from his previous role as director, accounting and reporting. The company thanks Mr. Rocha for his leadership and contributions during his tenure as interim CFO and looks forward to his continued contributions as a key member of Gunnison's finance team.

Ms. Hays is an accomplished American finance executive with approximately 20 years of experience spanning the United States defence industrial base, government contracting, public companies, manufacturing, strategic investment, capital allocation, financial planning and reporting, and enterprise growth.

Most recently, Ms. Hays served as chief financial officer of PacSci EMC, an operating company within Ralliant Corp. (New York Stock Exchange: RAL). PacSci EMC is a U.S. defence and space company whose products support major defence customers. During her tenure as CFO, Ms. Hays helped lead a significant expansion of the business, with substantial revenue growth and booked backlog increasing to $1-billion (U.S.).

Of particular relevance to Gunnison's strategy of strengthening its position within the U.S. critical minerals and defence supply chains, Ms. Hays helped PacSci EMC secure a $27-million (U.S.) Defense Industrial Base Consortium award to expand production capacity. She also directed efforts and investments in critical capabilities, including capacity expansion, strategic sourcing and advanced manufacturing to meet increased demand to support U.S. Department of War.

Prior to Ralliant, Ms. Hays spent approximately 17 years with Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC), in senior finance positions across government contracting, growth and incubation, manufacturing, global supply chain, M&A (merger and acquisition) integration and divestitures, and risk and controls. During her time supporting Intel's government contracting business, she helped grow Intel's U.S. government contract portfolio and supported the company's strategy with key U.S. government agencies and research laboratories. Her responsibilities at Intel included strategic planning of billions of dollars of capital and operating expenditures, together with extensive experience within the financial reporting, internal control environment and U.S. government contracting.

Ms. Hays holds a master of business administration and bachelor of science in finance from Arizona State University.

Craig Hallworth, president and chief executive officer of Gunnison Copper, commented:

"Jennifer is an exceptional addition to our executive team at an important point in Gunnison's growth. She brings a rare combination of CFO leadership, public company finance experience and direct experience within the U.S. defence industrial base.

"As we advance Gunnison as a major new source of domestically produced copper, Jennifer's background is exceptionally well aligned with our strategy. Her experience securing government-supported investment, working within strategically important U.S. supply chains and managing capital-intensive businesses will be highly valuable as we advance the Gunnison project."

Ms. Hays commented:

"I am excited to join Gunnison at such an important stage in the company's development. Copper is increasingly critical to U.S. economic growth, manufacturing, infrastructure and national security, and Gunnison has an opportunity to become a nationally significant producer.

About Gunnison Copper Corp.

Gunnison Copper is a multiasset pure-play copper developer and producer that controls the Cochise mining district (the 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 containing 5.19 billion pounds of copper (measured mineral resource of 192 million tons at 0.37 per cent containing 1.42 billion pounds of copper and indicated mineral resource of 655 million tons at 0.31 per cent containing 3.77 billion pounds of copper).

The Strong and 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) at a 0.07 per cent cut-off, 0.56 per cent zinc and 0.12 ounce/ton 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 an NPV (net present value) 8 per cent of $2-billion, IRR (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 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.

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 approved the technical information contained in this news release.

We seek Safe Harbor.