South Star Battery Metals Announces Appointment of Richard Vigil as Vice President of Operations

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 1, 2024 / South Star Battery Metals Corp. ("South Star" or the "Company") (TSXV:STS)(OTCQB:STSBF), is pleased to announce that Richard Vigil has been appointed as Vice President of Operations of the Company.

Mr. Vigil is a mining engineer with an MBA specializing in international business and finance. He has 15 years of experience evaluating mines and projects globally but with a focus on the Americas. His expertise includes assessing the technical and economic merits of operations/projects and risks for international banks, stream and royalty companies, and being an independent technical mining consultant. He has evaluated mines/projects in graphite, gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper, uranium, molybdenum, iron ore, and metallurgical coal. His background as both a mining engineer in operations and as a technical advisor will contribute to Santa Cruz's ramp-up and expansion, as well as BamaStar's advancement from studies to the future planned production. His technical focus has been on mining methods, mine design, resource and reserve estimation, processing, market studies, National Instrument 43-101 reports, risk assessment, OPEX/CAPEX/margin analysis, and corporate advisory. He went to the Colorado School of Mines and Tulane University, and is US based.

Richard Pearce, CEO of South Star, remarked, "We are thrilled to welcome Rich to our team and look forward to his operational and technical expertise as we expand operations in Brazil and advance the upcoming technical studies for both Santa Cruz and BamaStar. As we scale operations and expand our team, it's vital to hire experienced professionals with proven track records to deliver milestones safely and responsibly in partnership with our communities, clients, and other stakeholders. It is great to have someone of Rich's caliber join South Star at this critical juncture as we transition from a developer to an operator."

ABOUT SOUTH STAR BATTERY METALS CORP

South Star Battery Metals Corp. is a Canadian battery metals project developer focused on the selective acquisition and development of near-term production projects in the Americas. South Star's Santa Cruz Graphite Project, located in Southern Bahia, Brazil is the first of a series of industrial and battery metals projects that will be put into production. Brazil is the second-largest graphite-producing region in the world with more than 80 years of continuous mining. Santa Cruz has at-surface mineralization in friable materials, and successful large-scale pilot-plant testing (> 30t) has been completed. The results of the testing show that approximately 65% of graphite concentrate is +80 mesh with good recoveries and 95%-99% graphitic carbon (Cg). With excellent infrastructure and logistics, South Star is fully funded for Phase 1, and the construction and commissioning are underway. Santa Cruz will be the first new graphite production in the Americas since 1996, with Phase 1 commercial production projected in Q3 2024. Phase 2 production (25,000 tpa) is partially funded and planned for 2026, while Phase 3 (50,000 tpa) is scheduled for 2028.