South Star Mining Submits Environmental Permitting Documents for Pilot Plant Operations at the Santa Cruz Graphite Project
South Star Mining Submits Environmental Permitting Documents for Pilot Plant
Operations at the Santa Cruz Graphite Project
Toronto, ON, January 6, 2020 – South Star Mining Corp. (‘South Star’ or ‘the Company’) (TSX-V: STS) is pleased
to announce that it has completed and formally submitted the en vironmental permitting documents to the
responsible permitting consortium for the construction and oper ations of a 5000 tonne/year pilot plant facility
at the Santa Cruz Graphite Project.
Richard Pearce, President and CEO of South Star, commented: “We are pleased to have completed another big
step forward in our march towards production. In short order w e will also be submitting the trial mining
licensing documents (Guia de Utilização - GU) to the National Mining Agency (ANM). The pilot plant operations
will provide short-term cash flow from operations and allow us to qualify bulk samples in the marketplace and
establish future, firm offtake agreements. We have been working diligently to develop commercial
relationships with key players, bo th in Brazil and internationa lly, and have received excellent feedback on our
sample materials shipped to date. We will monitor closely the permitting process and will be using the first half
of 2020 to get the financing in place to construct and commissi on the pilot plant facilities. Construction is
expected to take approximately 8-10 months. We are excited to be moving past our project development stage
and focusing all our efforts and attention on near-term construction, commissioning and production.”
12 volumes totaling more than 800 pages evaluating environmenta l and socioeconomic impacts of the project
were included in the submittal, including:
x General project description and impact study;
x Fauna and flora inventories and baseline studies;
x Construction implementation and waste management planning;
x General closure and reclamation planning;
x Solids waste management planning;
x Environmental risk assessment procedures;
x Ongoing environmental monitoring programs;
x Emergency action plans;
x Ongoing educational and community relations planning.
The goal of the pilot plant operations is to prove the economic and technical viability of the Project at a small
scale, while also allowing the Company to produce and qualify l arge scale samples (1-20t) in the marketplace.
The pilot plant will allow the Company to test and optimize the flowsheet, develop the key commercial
relationships and optimize the production of products demanded in the marketplace, given the inherent, high-
quality nature of the concentrates produced to date.
The 5000 tpy concentrate pilot plant is Phase 1 of the proposed path to production and includes a small-pit
pilot processing plant, as well as filtered tails technology, waste storage facility for co-disposal of wasterock and
filtered tails, and civil infrastructure. The experience gained and commercial relationships established from
Phase 1 operations will then be used to scale up the operations as part of the Phase 2 expansion plan. The
Phase 2 production facility will be similar in layout and proce ss technology but will be able to produce 25,000
tpy of high-quality concentrate. The upcoming Prefeasibility St udy (PFS) results, expected in January of 2020,
will present the detailed design of the Phase 1 facilities alon g with the PFS level design for the Phase 2 facilities
and the maiden reserve estimate.
About South Star Mining Corp.
South Star Mining Corp. is focused on the selective acquisition and development of near-term mine production
projects in Brazil to maximize shareholder value. STS has an ex perienced executive team with a strong history
of discovering, developing, building and operating profitable mines in Brazil.
The Santa Cruz Graphite Project is located in Southern Bahia in the third largest graphite producing region in
the world with over 70 years of continuous mining. The Project has at surface mineralization in friable
materials, and successful large-scale pilot plant testing (>30t ) has been completed. The results of the testing
show approximately 65% of Cg conc entrate is +80 mesh with good recoveries and 95-99% Cg. With excellent
infrastructure and logistics, South Star is carrying its development plan towards production projected at the end
of 2020.
To learn more, please visit the Company website at http://www.southstarmining.ca.
On behalf of the Board,
Mr. Richard Pearce
Chief Executive Officer
Ph: +1 (314)266-0793 (US)
Ph: +55 (11) 2308-6839 (Brazil)
Email: [email protected]
For additional information, please contact:
Mr. Dave McMillan
Chairman
Ph: +1 778-773-4560
Email: [email protected]
Mr. Eric Allison
Director
Ph: +1 203 918-3098
Email: [email protected]
CHF Capital Markets
Cathy Hume, CEO
Phone: 416-868-1079 x231
Email: [email protected]
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Pr ovider (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 refe rences to inferred resources. The Report is preliminary in
nature and includes inferred mineral resources that are conside red 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 stat ements" within the meaning of applicable securities
legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to information t hat 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 an d 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 obta in
adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; r isks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political
and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; ri sks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings;
risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the po tential for delays in exploration or development activities or
the completion of feasibility st udies; the uncertainty of profi tability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretatio n of
drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral dep osits; risks related to the inhe rent uncertainty of production
and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and e xpenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and
the possibility that future explor ation, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's
expectations; risks related to gold price and other commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to
the Company's prospects, proper ties and business detailed elsew here in the Company's disclosure record. Should one or
more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should un derlying 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. T hese 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 n ew events or circumstances. Actual events or results could
differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections.