Mr. Tiago Cunha reports

SOUTH STAR ANNOUNCES RE-START OF SANTA CRUZ PLANT AHEAD OF SCHEDULE

South Star Battery Metals Corp.'s Santa Cruz plant was restarted yesterday, April 7, 2026. Initially, the plant will be tested under no-load conditions, which will transition to load conditions following positive results. This restart is a significant milestone in the progress of this plant toward commissioning.

Santa Cruz project restart

As previously reported (news release dated March 10, 2026), the scrubber/trommel installation was among the largest components involved in the plant feed system. Other items that were recently installed included the discharge pump and tank, electrical installations, material discharge chutes, piping, drying system (burner and cyclone), filter press feed pump, and a host of associated components. All these plant upgrades are the result of operational experience gained from work with the plant in early 2025 and that allowed the company's experience to engineer and implement the improvements. Periods of heavy rainfall slightly impacted these installations without materially hampering progress.

Tiago Cunha, interim chief executive officer, states: "We are pleased to announce this plant restart. The Santa Cruz team continues to deliver and these efforts have placed the restart nearly three months ahead of schedule. While Brazilians are accustomed to the annual rainy season, these rains can impede work, especially when electrical systems are involved. We look forward to more progress reports soon."

Qualified person statement

The technical and scientific information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Marc Leduc, PEng, director, a qualified person as defined under National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

About South Star Battery Metals Corp.

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 (environmental, social and governance) principles, based on transparency, stakeholder engagement, continuing education and stewardship.

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