South Star Battery Metals Corp. (TSXV: STS) (OTCQB: STSBF) reported June operational results from its Santa Cruz graphite plant in Brazil, including the shipment of its first graphite concentrate.

Run-of-mine feed to the plant rose from 3,798.5 tonnes in May to 4,920.1 tonnes in June, a roughly 30% increase. The company said graphite concentrate production doubled over the same period. In April, ROM feed had been 1,337.5 tonnes.

The company said 100% of graphite concentrate produced in June met commercial specifications, including a 95% carbon grade flake graphite standard. Reagent consumption, described as the highest-cost production input, remained stable despite the higher throughput.

Interim CEO Tiago Cunha said in a statement: "Our COO, Rogerio Barcellos, continues to deliver positive operational results. The plant is being monitored regularly and consistently in order to attain a production capacity of 5,000 tpa of graphite concentrate."

The Santa Cruz project is located in southern Bahia, Brazil. The company collects over 4,000 process and quality data points on a regular basis at the plant. The technical information in the release was reviewed by Marc Leduc, P.Eng, a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101.