South Star Battery Metals Announces Appointing of Key Team Members for Santa Cruz Graphite Mine Phase 1 Construction and Operations
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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