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South Star Announces First Product and Start of Commercial Production Ramp-up at Santa Cruz Phase 1 Graphite Mine in Bahia Brazil, as Well as Board Change
Highlights: Commissioning is complete at Santa Cruz Phase 1 Graphite Mine ("Santa Cruz") i...
About this update from South Star Battery Metals Corp
[{"type":"text","content":"South Star Announces First Product and Start of Commercial Production Ramp-up at Santa Cruz Phase 1 Graphite Mine in Bahia Brazil, as Well as Board ChangeHighlights:Commissioning is complete at Santa Cruz Phase 1 Graphite Mine (\"Santa Cruz\") in Bahia, Brazil, and first one tonne product has been placed in the bulk bag. Commercial production will ramp-up in October with first product shipments expected by end of October.Phase 1 construction and commissioning was completed as Santa Cruz team approaches 286,488 manhours and 678 days without a loss-time accident.As-builts and a bottleneck/optimization engineering analysis are underway to explore the potential to upgrade the Phase 1 plant throughput.South Star is preparing to ship a variety of large-scale industrial samples for final qualification in Brazil and the USA.Director Eric Allison has decided to not run for reelection and will retire from the Board of Directors. VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 7, 2024 / SOUTH STAR BATTERY METALS CORP. (\"South Star\" or the \"Company\") (TSXV:STS)(OTCQB:STSBF) is pleased to announce that commissioning at Santa Cruz Phase 1 Graphite Mine in Bahia, Brazil is complete and that the first product has been placed in the one tonne big bag. Ramp-up of commercial production is underway, and first shipments of natural flake graphite concentrates are expected by the end of October. The Phase 1 mine and process plant construction and commissioning was completed as Santa Cruz team approaches 286,488 manhours and 678 days without a loss-time accident. Santa Cruz is the first new graphite production in the Americas since 1996.As-builts engineering drawings of the constructed Phase 1 process plant detailing the electrical, mechanical, structural, foundations and earthworks as well as a bottleneck/process optimization study are underway to explore the potential to upgrade the Phase 1 processing plant capacity. In order to avoid special orders or custom parts, much of the installed equipment is the smallest, off-the-shelf, stock production units. It is oversized compared to Phase 1 throughput, and the study will determine what would have to be upgraded the Phase 1 plant to reach the Phase 2 estimated throughput. An operational mass and water balance as well as the as-builts will serve as the basis for a production optimization and bottleneck analysis....