At the Fastmarkets Lithium & Battery Raw Materials Conference, we sat down with David Christensen, Managing Director of Renascor Resources Limited to discuss their plan to deliver HF-free, battery-grade graphite from Australia.

We spoke across a broad range of topics, from market dynamics to commercial readiness. At a time when Renascor is operationally busier than ever, progressing its HF-free demonstration plant and laying the groundwork for long-term supply into global anode markets. Rather than chasing losses in today’s distorted market, Renascor is focused on minimising time to production, delivering when demand for ex-China graphite will be critical.

We discuss:

• Why graphite remains under the radar despite being essential to every lithium-ion battery, and how China’s near-monopoly and lack of price transparency are distorting the market.
• Renascor’s HF-free strategy to deliver battery-grade graphite from Australia, using a proven flow sheet engineered to Western standards.
• The demonstration plant’s role in validating cost structure and technical readiness
• Why vertical integration matters - and how Renascor’s midstream-first model reduces. transport, cost, and risk by processing graphite in the same jurisdiction as its mine.
• Challenges in the current market: historic low prices, Chinese producers running at negative margins, and the difficulty of competing on price - but why this is the time to build ex-China options.
• Key milestones ahead including equipment procurement, commissioning of the demo plant, offtake partner progress, and the transition from miner to vertically integrated supplier.

With upstream approvals secured, long-lead items procured, and engineering work underway, Renascor is transitioning from a mining project to a vertically integrated supplier, and positioning itself as a key company in the global graphite supply chain.

Published 6 July 2025

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