VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 22,
2022 /CNW/ - South Star Battery Metals Corp. ("South
Star" or the "Company") (TSXV: STS) (OTCQB: STSBF), is pleased
to announce that it has hired key team members for Phase 1
construction and subsequent operations of the Santa Cruz Graphite
Mine in Brazil. The Company has appointed Mr. Julio Jose Da Silva as the General Mine Manager,
Ms. Marcia Cota as controller and
finance manager, Mr. Antonio de
Assis as the Sales and Marketing Director, Mr. Marcelo Castro as the Construction Project
Manager and Mr. Luciano Lazaro as
supply chain/procurement manager.
- Mr. Julio Jose Da Silva
(General Mine Manager): Mr. Da Silva is a mechanical engineer
and project manager with over 22 years of experience in mining and
mineral resource sector in Brazil.
His expertise includes operations, maintenance, engineering,
construction, open-pit mining, metallurgy, placing plants on care
and maintenance, mine start-up, QA/QC, inventory controls,
security, logistics and the general operations of mine management.
He has held various senior management positions at Mineração Morro
Verde, Luna/Trek/Equinox Gold, Yamana, and Aura Minerals. He has
degrees in mechanical engineering and project management and is a
native Portuguese speaker with intermediate English.
- Ms. Marcia Cota (Controller
and Finance Manager): Ms. Cota is a finance professional with
more than 20 years of experience in controls, treasury, finance,
data analysis, ERP implementation, tax, audits, cashflow
management, logistics, budgeting and forecasting. She has held
several senior management positions in Brazil and overseas with Net Brasil, W Torre
S/A, Genea Angola, Locar Guindastes e Transportes S/A, and
Mineração Morro Verde. She has degrees in Business Administration,
MBA and specialization in Advanced Finance Analysis. She is a
native speaker in Portuguese and fluent in English.
- Mr. Antonio de Assis (Sales
and Marketing Director): Mr. Assis has over 30 years of sales
and marketing experience with much of that time spent in the
natural flake and synthetic graphite markets. He has a long
successful career and held various senior sales, marketing and
business development positions with Syrah Resources, Nacional de
Grafite, Technografit GmbH and Grupo Unimetal. Throughout his
career he has worked on overseeing sales teams, creating marketing
plans to increase exposure and sales, and developing extensive
commercial relationships in the industrial and value-add graphite
markets in more than 50 countries around the world. His expertise
includes prospecting, B2B & B2D sales, marketing, customer
relations, technical performance, customer support, contracts and
negotiations. He has degrees in Business Administration as well as
Marketing and Sales and is fluent in Portuguese, English &
Spanish.
- Mr. Marcelo Castro
(Construction Project Manager): Mr. Castro is a mechanical
engineering with over 25 years of engineering, design,
construction, and project management, with most of that experience
being in the mining and mineral resource space in Brazil. Mr. Castro has been involved with
large construction projects with CAPEX up to several U$100M, as
well as overseeing large teams associated with EPCM projects. He
has held various senior project management positions with Lyon
Engineering, Beadell, Luna/Trek, and Ausenco. He has degrees in
mechanical engineering, business administration for engineers, and
workplace safety engineering. He is native Portuguese speaker and
fluent in English.
- Mr. Luciano Lazaro (Supply
Chain/Procurement Manager): Mr. Lazaro is an experienced supply
chain manager with more than 30 years of experience with supply
chain, procurement, logistics, COMEX, contracts and planning and
controls. He has held several senior positions with Vale, Ericsson
Telecommunications, Brazilian Pipeline Carriers, Anglo Ferrous,
Aura Minerals, Ferrous Resources, Luna/Trek/Equinox, and Mineração
Morro Verde. He has degrees in Economic Sciences, Urban and
Regional Planning as well as Project Management. He is a native
speaker of Portuguese and fluent in English.
"We are excited and fortunate to have these talented key members
on board at a critical time for the future success of South Star
and the Santa Cruz Graphite Mine as we move from development into
production," commented Richard
Pearce, President and CEO of South Star. "I have personally
known Julio, Marcelo, Marcia and Luciano for many years and had the
privilege to work together on the construction and subsequent
operations of a couple different projects over the years. Antonio
is a fantastic new addition to the team and key to us getting our
products introduced into the marketplace. I'd like to personally
welcome them all as part of our team that will lead us through
construction and into becoming the first new graphite mine put into
production in the Americas in more than a decade. 2022 and 2023
will be a transformative time for us. This industry requires great
people, and we now have the core nucleus of a talented team in
place to be very successful at getting Phase 1 built and into
operations. Construction and operations bring a new challenge every
day, and I am proud to have very capable people of great character,
persistence, and experience on the team. No one does anything big
by themselves."
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 Cg concentrate is +80 mesh with good recoveries and 95%-99% Cg.
With excellent infrastructure and logistics, South Star is carrying
its development plan towards Phase 1 production projected in Q1
2023, pending financing.
South Star's next project in the pipeline is a development
project in Alabama located in the
middle of a developing electric vehicle, aerospace and defence hub
in the southeastern United States. The Project is a historic
mine active during World Wars I & II. Trenching,
sampling, analysis and preliminary metallurgic testing has been
completed. The testing indicated a traditional
crush/grind/flotation concentration circuit achieved grades of
approximately 96-97% with approximately 86% recoveries. and South
Star is executing on it's plan to create a multi-asset, diversified
battery metals company with near-term operations in strategic
jurisdictions. South Star trades on the TSX Venture Exchange
under the symbol STS, and on the OTCQB under the symbol STSBF.
South Star is committed to a corporate culture, project
execution plan and safe operations that embrace the highest
standards of ESG principles based on transparency, stakeholder
engagement, ongoing education and stewardship. To learn more,
please visit the Company website at
http://www.southstarbatterymetals.com.
This news release has been reviewed and approved by Richard
Pearce, P.E., a "Qualified Person" under National Instrument 43-101
and President and CEO of South Star Battery Metals.
On behalf of the Board,
Mr. Richard Pearce
Chief Executive Officer
For additional information, please contact:
South Star Investor Relations (Canada
IR)
Email: invest@southstarbatterymetals.com
RBMG – RB Milestone Group LLC (IR US)
Trevor Brucato, Managing Director
Email: southstar@rbmilestone.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/southstarbm
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/southstarbatterymetals
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/southstarbatterymetals/
YouTube: South Star Battery Metals - YouTube
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture
Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of
this press release.
This news release and the Updated Technical Report contain
references to inferred resources. The Report 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.
FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
The information contained herein contains "forward-looking
statements" within the meaning of applicable securities
legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to information that
is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results,
and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that
express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections,
objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not
statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking
statements".
Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks
and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to
differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements,
including, without limitation: risks related to failure to obtain
adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; risks
related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political and
regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks
related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks
related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential
for delays in exploration or development activities or the
completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of
profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the
interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity
of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of
production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected
costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility
studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development
or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's
expectations; risks related to commodity price fluctuations; and
other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects,
properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's
disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and
uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove
incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described
in forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against
attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the
Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to
reflect new events or circumstances. Actual events or results could
differ materially from the Company's expectations or
projections.
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SOURCE South Star Battery Metals Corp.