Mr. Tiago Cunha reports

SOUTH STAR ANNOUNCES CORPORATE UPDATES: SANTA CRUZ PLANT PROGRESS AND CORPORATE PLANNING

South Star Battery Metals Corp.'s first week of operations at the Santa Cruz plant delivered outstanding results. The mechanical and electrical systems performed reliably, with no reported issues during the week. The plant was operated on a single-shift basis, and management anticipates continued steady progress in the coming weeks as operations continue to ramp up.

Santa Cruz project

As reported on April 8, 2026, the Santa Cruz plant was restarted approximately three months ahead of schedule. Given that the plant was idle for approximately six months, the start-up has proceeded exceptionally well. No leaks or operational bottlenecks have been encountered. The plant is currently operating on a single-shift basis; however, operations are expected to scale up to 5,000 tonnes per year of concentrate production as the work force expands and the team members are trained to meet the high operational and safety standards expected by management.

Tiago Cunha, interim chief executive officer, stated: "The first week of operations at Santa Cruz has exceeded our expectations. The team demonstrated exceptional commitment, working through holidays to deliver a strong operational start. While such positive results over the first week were beyond initial expectations, we remain focused on continuing to learn the plant's capacity and to manage expectations regarding production going forward. The improvements we made to the plant address the bottlenecks we saw when we initially started the plant last year, such as handling wet saprolite ore."

Financing

The Sprott streaming and bridge loan agreements have been an important component of the company's growth plan since inception, and the association with Sprott has been a valued part of South Star's development. After continued discussions with Sprott, the board has decided to pursue alternative financing, which will enable the company to further plan and execute on its growth strategies at the Santa Cruz plant.

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 metal 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 metal projects that is anticipated to be put into production. Brazil is the third-largest graphite-producing region in the world with more than 80 years of continuous graphite 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, a project execution plan and safe operations that embrace the highest standards of environmental, social and governance principles, based on transparency, stakeholder engagement, continuing education and stewardship.

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