South Star Battery Metals Corp. announced that it has awarded contracts for the National Instrument 43-101 (NI43-101) Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA or the Study) for the BamaStar Graphite Project (BamaStar). The interdisciplinary team of consultants, engineers and scientists is co-led by Dorfner ANZAPLAN GmbH and Lycopodium Limited.

The PEA is anticipated to be completed and published in July 2024. With the recent mineral lease and surface rights extensions, South Star has successfully completed all the other requirements for BamaStar's option agreement, and preparing the PEA is the final milestone that will give the Company the right to acquire an undivided 75% legal and beneficial interest in and to the minerals, mining rights and the underlying agreements for the mine. The PEA will incorporate the Company's 2023 drill-program results, providing an update to the maiden Mineral Resource Estimate for the BamaStar project.

The Study's techno-economic analysis will present a scenario with concentrates from both BamaStar and Santa Cruz providing feedstocks for the secondary processed, specialty-graphite products. The Study will outline the strategic production/commercial plan for South Star's planned downstream transformation plant for the manufacturing of battery-graphite and other specialty-graphite commercial products, in the southeastern USA. Additionally, senior representatives of the Company have engaged and met with numerous senior economic-development representatives for states in the region, including Alabama and Louisiana.

The team has commenced a site selection process to determine the most advantageous location for siting South Star's planned downstream transformation plant to produce coated spherical purified graphite (CSPG) for lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery applications, in addition to conductivity-enhancement products suited for numerous battery chemistries, and other unique and innovative products. In addition, 10 kg of Santa Cruz material is being tested as part of ongoing characterization and optimization of the Santa Cruz graphite concentrates for battery applications for the Company's US downstream transformational technologies technical program. Currently, Santa Cruz graphite concentrate is being analyzed, purified, transformed and upgraded to produce a variety of different products, including CSPG.