South Star Battery Metals Corp. (TSX-V:STS, OTCQB:STSBF) said it is on schedule to complete construction and commissioning at its Santa Cruz graphite project in Bahia Brazil by December 2023.
South Star said civil and earthworks contractors have been mobilized, the majority of major equipment contracts have been signed and down payments completed to lock in capex for Phase 1 of the construction.
It added that field work for Phases 2 and 3 environmental permitting has been completed on schedule to submit documentation for early 1Q, 2023.
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A request for definitive mining concession and the Planned Economic Analysis reports (PEA) doubling production to 50,000 tonnes per year of graphite concentrates for 11 of the 13 mining claims has been submitted for review and comment, with all PEAs on schedule for submission by January 2023.
Further, the company said that initial fieldwork for three geophysics lines has been completed and is in interpretation. The remaining fieldwork is expected to be completed in January 2023 with a final report issued in February 2023, it said.
South Star CEO Richard Pearce said the company was closing out 2022 having reached another important milestone with Phase 1 commercial production planned for December 2023.
“We will be working through the end of the year and look forward to hitting the ground running so that 2023 will be a watershed moment for South Star, as we transition from a development project to an operating mine. We are confident in delivering on our promise to be the first new graphite production in the Americas since 1996," Pearce said In a statement,
South Star Battery Metals is a Canadian battery metals project developer focused on the selective acquisition and development of near-term production projects in the Americas. The company’s Santa Cruz graphite project, located in Bahia, Brazil is the first of a series of industrial and battery metals projects that will be put into production.
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