Gunnison Copper CEO on $8m Nuton deal; permitting on track at Johnson Camp

Gunnison Copper CEO on $8m Nuton deal; permitting on track at Johnson Camp

Proactive

Thu, September 17, 2026 at 6:12 PM GMT+3

• GCU.TO +1.16%

Gunnison Copper Corp (TSX:GCU, OTCQB:GCUMF, FRA:3XS0) CEO and President Craig Hallworth tells Proactive's Gunnion that the company will receive an $8 million non-dilutive payment from Nuton in exchange for adding approximately 3 million tons of mineralized material to the Johnson Camp Mine plan. Hallworth said the additional material will be mined and processed using Nuton's sulfide leaching technology within the existing stage two period, which ends in mid-2030, and the proceeds will be directed to the flagship Gunnison Copper project.

Hallworth also addressed the decision not to proceed with 48C tax credits, saying the company cannot claim more than one federal benefit on the same asset and is focused on maximising the total value of incentives available for the Johnson Camp construction. He declined to specify which alternative programs are being pursued but directed investors to gunnisoncopper.com for updates.

On permitting, Hallworth confirmed that Gunnison Copper has submitted its Mined Land Reclamation Plan amendment to the Arizona State Mine Inspector. The amendment converts the project from the predecessor company's in-situ leaching approach to an open pit, heap leach, and SXEW plant design. He said approval with no lawsuits is expected by the end of this calendar year, consistent with guidance already given.

Hallworth discussed the possibility of skipping the pre-feasibility study and going directly to a full feasibility study, noting that strategic partners are consistently advising this path. He cited the project's history as a mine restart, the high proportion of measured and indicated resources, and existing permits and technical data as reasons the accelerated timeline is viable. In the base case, a final investment decision would come at around mid-2030 following a pre-feasibility study to mid-2028 and a feasibility study after that. Hallworth said the accelerated decision has not yet been made but that the permitting timeline is aligned with it if chosen. He described the Gunnison project as potentially supplying between 10 and 15 percent of total US refined copper from ore production.

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00:00 Craig Holworth

In exchange for that, we're going to receive an $8 million payment, and that's a great non-dilutive source of funding for us as Gunnison Copper.

00:12 Craig Holworth

We're going to put that right to work on our Gunnison Copper project. That's the big flagship, and people that are following us know, that's where I think we're going to add material amounts of value to our equity share price.

00:29 Stephen

Hello, you're watching Proactive. I'm joined by Gunnison Copper President and CEO Craig Holworth. Craig, great to speak with you again. You're out with news about your agreement with Newton this week. What does adding around 3 million tons of mineralized material mean for the economics and value of the Johnson Camp?

00:48 Craig Holworth

Well, Stephen, so good to see you. I think what it shows is our continuing strength of our partnership with Newton. Um, you know, we're so proud to be using their revolutionary technology, sulfide leaching. We're making pure American copper, you know, this is 99.999% pure copper with this new technology. It's made all the way from American ore all the way to finished product. We're selling it domestically. We're selling it into the defense supply chains. And so we're really, really proud of that.

01:21 Craig Holworth

And so to add additional material to the mind plan. And this mind plan by the way is all within the existing stage two time period, which if investors have been following us, they know that ends in mid 2030. So we're not extending the stage two here. This is just additional material that will be mined and processed, um using their technology during stage two. So we're so excited to add that.

01:45 Craig Holworth

In exchange for that, we're going to receive an $8 million payment, and that's a great non-dilutive source of funding for us as Gunnison Copper. We're going to put that right to work on our Gunnison Copper project. That's the big flagship.

01:57 Craig Holworth

And people that are following us know that's where I think we're going to add material amounts of value to our equity share price.

02:09 Stephen

Uh you're also opting not to proceed with the 48C tax credits, Craig. What what drove that decision and what other funding or federal incentive opportunities are you now looking at?

02:23 Craig Holworth

What I can tell the viewers is that there's a whole lot of options out there right now. You know, we've seen with this government across the board, whether it's tax incentives, whether it's equity deals, debt deals, grants, across the board, lots of incentives, but you can't double dip.

02:41 Craig Holworth

So what we need to do is maximize. We're trying to maximize the benefit that we can receive for the Johnson Camp construction. You can't claim more than one benefit on the same thing.

02:55 Craig Holworth

And so that's all I can say for now, but I ask viewers to follow us at gunnisoncopper.com and know that we're going to be seeking to maximize in the medium and longer term, the total amount of value that we can bring to this company.

03:14 Stephen

You're also out with news today, Craig, that you've submitted the mined land reclamation plan amendment for the flagship Open Pits Gunnison project. Uh how important is this step towards fully permitting Gunnison?

03:32 Craig Holworth

Well, we're right on track. And I think people know that our permitting strength, our track record, um is a differentiator for us versus other peer projects. I mean, look at the Johnson Camp mine. We permit amended that in under 12 months, no lawsuits. And so we had great success there. And so people are expecting a similar straightforward process here. And so I'm very happy to announce, you know, that we've now submitted our MLRP, um submittal to the agency, the Arizona State Mine Inspector.

04:08 Craig Holworth

And if people remember, you know, we're pivoting this project. If they remember the predecessor company, um they have pursued in situ leaching. So it's a little bit of a different project we've got now. We're using traditional technology. We're doing an open pit approach. We're going to do a heap leech. We're going to do an SXEW plant, make the finished copper right there at the site.

04:31 Craig Holworth

So what this amendment's doing is essentially switching the mining from a well in situ approach to an open pit approach. And we have to add things like the waste rock facility. And I think what people are going to see and we're going to have it on our website very soon on a new permitting tab that we're adding is we've made some improvements to the general arrangement.

04:54 Craig Holworth

And what the general arrangement is, if you're not familiar, is that's a layout of our site with all the facilities, all of the processing equipment, you know, where it's all placed. And I think that if people are interested in those details, they're going to see a great improvement in our general arrangement. But the bottom line here is we're right on track with where we guided. We've been guiding for a while now.

05:14 Craig Holworth

MLRP, we expect that amended with no lawsuits by the end of this calendar year and our submittal's right on track. So, I think if we wait a few months as the agency does its role, I think we'll, we're expecting to get our approval by the end of the year.

05:35 Stephen

Uh Craig, you also mentioned an accelerated feasibility study. Can can you elaborate on that and how it leads to your final investment decision?

05:43 Craig Holworth

We've been talking about this for a while now, the possibility of accelerating our timeline. In our base case, I think as most know, we're going to be doing a pre-feasibility study which will take us until mid 2028 and then a feasibility study after that, which would take us to about mid 2030, when in that base case, we could make our final investment decision or in other words, the construction decision at that time.

06:18 Craig Holworth

However, we've been talking to possible strategic partners and we're getting advice that's very consistent that they think we should go straight to the feasibility study.

06:30 Craig Holworth

You know, because if you look at our project, if you look at the past, it's basically a mine restart. You know, I already mentioned it in this call, but there was a predecessor company and they'd actually built a mine. They were mining, they were making copper back in 2022 from this Gunnison deposit. It didn't work out, it went on care and maintenance, but the silver lining there is that this deposit is really well known.

06:58 Craig Holworth

Almost the entire ore body is measured and indicated. So that means we have a great level of confidence in the material that at the copper that's there in the ground. And they've had very advanced modeling whether it was ground water, whether it was air modeling. We've got the permits in place from that. We just need to do amendments.

07:22 Craig Holworth

So for all these reasons, there's a lot more technical information that we know today versus, you know, if you look at a comparable project that never had an operating mine on it before, they would have a lot more work to do. So I think for those reasons and given just look at the macro environment, look at the stimulus in this country, look at everyone is trying to drive acceleration in domestic supply. So we've got a lot of powerful forces that are saying accelerate this.

07:58 Craig Holworth

We need this nationally significant source of copper because remember, this Gunnison copper project could make somewhere between 10 and 15% of the entire United States total refined copper from more production.

08:12 Craig Holworth

So it's nationally significant. We've got a huge deficit. We need to fill that deficit and because of the unique past where we had a mine here before or a mine restart, we've got just a lot more technical knowledge already and I think that's going to set us up for success with accelerating this and going straight to feasibility.

08:33 Craig Holworth

But I'll tell investors that decision has not yet been made, but it's something that we're certainly looking at. And the good news is and as we said in our press release, our permit amendment timeline is fully aligned with if with that accelerated timeline if we so choose.

08:55 Stephen

Craig, I hope you'll keep us updated with your progress. It was very good speaking with you today.

09:00 Craig Holworth

Thank you, Stephen.

09:02 Stephen

That's Craig Holworth, President and CEO of Gunnison Copper.