Gunnison Copper Announces That Rio Tinto's Nuton Technology Produces First Copper

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[{"type":"text","content":"Gunnison Copper Announces That Rio Tinto's Nuton Technology Produces First CopperPhoenix, Arizona--(Newsfile Corp. - December 4, 2025) - Gunnison Copper Corp. (TSX: GCU) (OTCQB: GCUMF) (FSE: 3XS0) (\"Gunnison\" or the \"Company\") announces that Rio Tinto has successfully produced the first copper from the Johnson Camp mine in Arizona using its Nuton® Technology, marking a pivotal step forward in the development of this innovative copper processing technology. After more than 30 years of research and development, the first copper cathode using Rio Tinto's proprietary bioleaching technology, which relies on microorganisms grown on site, was produced at Gunnison Copper's Johnson Camp mine last month. The deployment involves the design and delivery of a technology package for a heap leach pad targeting production of approximately 30,0001 tonnes of refined copper over a four-year demonstration period. Rio Tinto is engaging with several potential customers in the U.S. to support the domestic copper supply chain. Rio Tinto Copper Chief Executive Katie Jackson said, \"This is a breakthrough achievement for our Nuton technology, which is proving that cleaner, faster, and more efficient copper production is possible at an industrial scale. In an industry where projects typically take about 18 years to move from concept to production, Nuton has now proven its ability to do this in just 18 months.\"Nuton has designed a modular system deployed as a technology package integrating biology, chemistry, engineering, and digital tools, allowing it to be rapidly scaled and tailored to different ore bodies, unlocking resources that have historically been considered uneconomic or challenging. We are actively partnering on projects in North and South America to assess the potential for future deployment at additional sites in the coming years.\"Nuton relies on naturally occurring microorganisms to extract copper from primary sulphide materials, which are traditionally difficult to process. These microbes, grown at large scale in Nuton's proprietary bioreactors, accelerate the oxidation of minerals in the crushed material heap, generating heat and enabling copper to dissolve into a leach solution, which is then processed into 99.99% pure copper cathode. Significantly, processing copper material with Nuton eliminates the need for concentration, sm...

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