Falcon Copper Corp. (“Falcon Copper” or the “Company”) today announced the appointments of Rick Gittleman as President of Falcon Copper Works, Eric Best as Executive Vice President, Projects, Construction and Operations, Falcon Copper Works, and Mike Ciricillo as Executive Vice President, Smelters, Refining and Growth, Falcon Copper Works. The appointments strengthen the Company’s executive leadership as Falcon Copper continues to advance its long‑term growth and development strategy.
“Rick, Eric and Mike bring highly complementary skill sets that strengthen Falcon Copper’s leadership across operations, project delivery and downstream processing,” said Travis Naugle, Executive Chairman of Falcon Copper. “Together, they add decades of senior operating, project execution, processing, government relations and global stakeholder engagement experience, positioning the Company to advance its copper platform and execute complex domestic and international initiatives with discipline and focus.”
As President of Falcon Copper Works, Gittleman will lead the Company’s domestic smelting and refining efforts, international strategy strengthening allied supply chains as well as stakeholder engagement. He has more than 30 years of global mining experience, with senior leadership roles spanning project finance, government relations, and community engagement, and a focus on copper projects in Africa and other emerging markets. He previously served as Vice President, Africa, at Freeport-McMoRan, where he was part of the senior management team at the Tenke Fungurume copper operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and has held senior roles at Glencore.
Best joins Falcon Copper Works as Executive Vice President, Projects, Construction and Operations, where he will lead the development, construction and operational readiness of the Company’s planned U.S.-based copper smelting and refining facility. He brings decades of experience across global mining operations, process plant management and executive leadership, having held senior roles at tier-one copper, cobalt and gold operations in North America and Africa. He served as chief executive officer of Glencore’s Mutanda Mining operation and previously held senior leadership roles at Freeport-McMoRan’s Tenke Fungurume project, as well as U.S.-based roles including general manager of Barrick Gold Corp.’s Cortez District and chief operating officer at the Mineral Park mine near Kingman, Arizona.
Ciricillo joins Falcon Copper Works as Executive Vice President, Smelters, Refining and Growth, where he will support the Company’s downstream processing strategy, operational development and long‑term growth initiatives. He brings extensive global leadership experience across multi-site mining, smelting and refining operations. He previously served as chief executive officer of Nevada Copper, held senior leadership roles at Glencore, including Head of Global Copper Production and as President of Freeport-McMoRan Africa with responsibility for the Tenke Fungurume operation. He also served as President of Commercial Operations for the NANA Corporation, which provided engineering, construction and operational support services to Alaska’s resource development industry.
About Falcon Copper Corp.
Falcon Copper Corp. is a privately held, U.S.-based company advancing a domestic and international copper platform spanning resource development through downstream processing. Falcon Copper’s approach is aligned with U.S. government priorities to strengthen critical mineral supply chains, reduce reliance on foreign sources, and support long-term economic resilience and national security, while responsibly unlocking America’s mineral potential.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements and information contained in this new release constitute “forward-looking statements”, and “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, “forward-looking statements”). These statements appear in a number of places in this news release and include statements regarding the Company’s mineral projects, the potential development of the Company’s mineral projects, alignment of the Company’s mineral projects with certain United States government priorities, potential sources of funding from the United States government, and similar statements regarding the Company’s future business prospects. When used in this news release words such as “to be”, “will”, “planned”, “expected”, “potential”, “anticipated” and similar expressions are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements and/or information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements since the Company can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to vary materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements, including risks that the Company’s mineral projects do not contain minerals in economically extractable quantities, changes in the priorities of the United States government, risks inherent in the exploration and development of mineral projects, fluctuations in the market prices of minerals, changes in the global economy and other general business risks. Such forward-looking statements are based on various assumptions, including assumptions made with regard to general business and economic conditions, mineral prices, and expected benefits from current United States government priorities. While the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable, based on information currently available, they may prove to be incorrect. Except as required by applicable law, we assume no obligation to update or to publicly announce the results of any change to any forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect actual results, future events or developments, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting the forward- looking statements.
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