South Star Achieves Graphite Purchase Order Milestone

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 07, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — South Star Battery Metals Corp. (“South Star” or the “Company”) (TSXV: STS) (OTCQB: STSBF) is pleased to announce that it has successfully completed the qualification process for the graphite concentrate produced at the Santa Cruz mine with a significant graphite customer and has received a purchase order from this customer for 36 tonnes of graphite concentrate. This marks a significant achievement for South Star on the path to revenues.

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Santa Cruz Project—Shipments

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A total of three shipments of graphite from the Santa Cruz mine have been completed to date. These shipments, made on June 1, July 14 and July 28, 2026, respectively, and consisted of representative samples of Santa Cruz production that was shipped to the buyer for laboratory analysis to confirm the graphite conformed to the required quality specifications. Both flake and fines samples were included in the testing program. As a result of the successful evaluation of these samples, South Star has received a purchase order from the buyer. This first bulk shipment is scheduled to be dispatched this week, with the operations team currently finalizing the shipment process. Additionally, the buyer is interested in additional purchases of graphite from the Santa Cruz mine, reflecting continued confidence in the quality of the Company’s product.

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The purchase order covered totaled 36 tonnes of graphite. While the sale of this volume of graphite is not material to the Company’s financial position, it marks an important milestone for the Project. This purchaser is currently testing sample fines as well. Discussions with the buyer are ongoing, and the Company anticipates potential opportunities to sell additional graphite production to this customer in the future.

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Rogerio Barcellos, COO, stated, “We are very pleased to have achieved this significant milestone in the development of the Santa Cruz graphite project. While the laboratory analysis and price negotiation process took longer than anticipated, we see a clear path for significant potential revenue with this important customer. With the purchase order received and the graphite bags scheduled for shipment, we look forward to additional shipments of Santa Cruz graphite in the near future. This represents a significant accomplishment, particularly given the short period that the plant has been back in production and the significant progress we continue to make in fine-tuning the Santa Cruz process plant. We are encouraged by this progress and look forward to building on this momentum with future shipments.”

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About South Star Battery Metals Corp.

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South Star is a Canadian battery metals project developer focused on the selective acquisition and development of near-term production projects in the Americas. South Star’s Santa Cruz graphite project, located in southern Bahia, Brazil, is the first of a series of industrial and battery metals projects that is anticipated to be put into production. Brazil is the second largest graphite producing region in the world with more than 80 years of continuous mining. With excellent infrastructure and logistics, Santa Cruz is slated to be the newest graphite producer in the Americas. South Star trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol STS, and on the OTCQB under the symbol STSBF. South Star is committed to a corporate culture, project execution
plan and safe operations that embrace the highest standards of ESG principles, based on transparency, stakeholder engagement, ongoing education, and stewardship. To learn more, please visit the Company website at southstarbatterymetals.com.