Canadian-based South Star Battery Metals said that Phase 1 construction for its flagship Santa Cruz graphite mine in Bahia, Brazil, is substantially complete and commissioning is underway. The Phase 1 plant has a nameplate capacity of approximately 12,000 tonnes per year of natural flake graphite concentrates.
“We have commercial agreements for large-scale industrial samples in place and look forward to shipping those samples in early in Q4 2024. Our Phase 1 production schedule of 12,000 [t/y] of natural flake graphite will make us the second largest natural flake graphite producer in the Americas. Our team is delivering on our promise to be the first new graphite production in the Americas since 1996,” said South Star President and CEO Richard Pearce.
South Star said mine prestrip, preliminary dump foundations and ramps are complete, and approximately 50,000 tonnes of ore is being placed on the ore pad by end of August for commissioning and initial operations.
Phase 2 operations at the Santa Cruz mine will represent a larger-scale concentration plant currently planned to produce between 25,000 to 30,000 t/y of concentrate.
Source: South Star Battery Metals