Vancouver-based South Star Battery Metals Corp. will undertake small-scale testing on ore from its Alabama graphite project.

Metallurgical tests will begin in July and last 16 weeks.

Testing will include drying and crushing to create the 1-tonne sample, the construction of a pilot-plant circuit with a rod mill and traditional froth flotation, and process testing to produce rougher concentrate samples.

The goal is to create a 1-tonne ore sample to retest and confirm processing and reagents from previous tests.

Initial testing achieved recoveries of 86% with grades of approximately 96%-97% using a traditional crush-grind-flotation concentration circuit.

South Star also aims to create approximately 15 kilogrammes of concentrates of greater than 94% graphitic carbon, as well as intermediate products and samples for future tests to better characterise the ore and tailings.

The graphite will potentially be used for variety battery precursor material, South Star chief executive Richard Pearce said.

"If the results of this programme confirm the previous test work, we will be looking to send 30 to 40 tonnes of ore to our soon-to-be-constructed Santa Cruz plant [in Brazil] and run through a full-scale pilot plant test," he said.

The Alabama mine would be the first online graphite mine in the United States, Pearce added.

South Star also operates the Santa Cruz graphite project in Brazil, which is projecting Phase 1 production to begin in the June quarter of 2023. South Star estimates it will produce 25,000 tonnes per year to 30,000 tpy at Santa Cruz.