South Star Battery Metals Corp. (TSX-V:STS, OTCQB:STSBF) announced that it has received the construction permit for its Santa Cruz Mine in Brazil from the municipality of Itabela.
“The municipal construction permit was the final approval we needed for Phase 1 construction to begin in earnest, and are pleased to have achieved this important milestone,” South Star CEO Richard Pearce said in a statement.
“Once again, we would like to thank the mayor of Itabela and his/her team for their continued support of South Star. We look forward to working closely with them through construction and the start of commercial production in Q4 of 2023.”
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Additionally, South Star had meetings with the State of Bahia development agency, the Bahia industrial confederation, as well as representatives from the port facilities in Salvador, Bahia.
“We presented additional details about Santa Cruz and our planned growth through Phase 2 (25,000 tonnes per year of concentrates) and Phase 3 (50,000 tpy of concentrates),” Pearce said of the meetings. “Santa Cruz will be the first major industrial facility in the municipality and one of the largest in the region as we scale operations. The State of Bahia has a long history of successful mineral resource development and operations, and we are privileged to be operating in a state with strong ties to the sector.”
“The port facilities in Salvador are world class and are one of several excellent alternatives to export our product to the world. Santa Cruz has unparalleled existing infrastructure to support our planned expansions. The existing infrastructure and facilities are significant factors contributing to our low capital intensity as well as our projected first quartile operating costs. We look forward to being the first new graphite production in the Americas in decades," he added.
South Star is a Canadian battery metals project developer focused on the selective acquisition and development of near-term production projects in the Americas.
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