Interview: Volt Resources – Graphite Strategy Across Ukraine, Tanzania & Alabama

Harry Minnis
June 22, 2025

Key Highlights

• Active Production in Ukraine: Volt continues to operate its Zavalievsky graphite mine.
• Tanzania Progress: The Bunyu Project remains a major asset, with efforts underway to reduce capital and operating costs to unlock Stage 1 development.
• U.S. Downstream Strategy: Volt plans to develop a graphite refinery in Alabama, targeting 99.95% purity using a patent-pending, HF-free purification process.
• Funding Approach: Volt is pursuing a multi-pronged financing strategy, including equity, debt, and potential U.S. government support, backed by strong project economics.
• Board Strengthening: Former CEO Trevor Matthews has returned as a Non-Executive Director to support ASX governance and upstream strategy execution.

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Harry (GraphiteHub): Could you provide an overview of Volt Resources?

Prashant Chintawar (Volt Resources): Good afternoon, Harry. My name is Prashant Chintawar. I’m the Chief Executive Officer of Volt Resources. We are a company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) under the ticker VRC.

Volt started off as a traditional, conventional mining company, and now, we’re primarily focused on critical minerals, specifically graphite, and advanced materials. We are one of the very few ex-China graphite producers today because we have a working graphite mine and a processing plant in Ukraine, which has been in operation since 1934. Even with the ongoing war over the past three years, we are still producing graphite there.

In addition to that, we also have one of the largest graphite deposits in Eastern Tanzania, the Bunyu Project which we would like to bring online in the near future. And if that’s not enough, we also see significant exploration potential through our gold project in Guinea.

Now, shifting to the critical minerals and advanced materials part, if you look at what’s been happening in the graphite market over the past two years, prices have been quite depressed, especially for flake graphite. To address that, we are looking to move away from being a simple commodity producer of 94–95% C graphite and instead focus on more advanced materials.

Specifically, we are targeting what we call high-purity graphite (HPG), which is typically 99.5%, and ultra-high purity graphite (UHPG), which is 99.95%. These are the two products we want to focus on.

An important differentiator is that we have a patent-pending process for producing these materials. It’s not just about technical innovation, the real value to customers is cost. Once we begin producing HPG and UHPG in the U.S., we will be able to offer these products at lower cost than the competition.

We have already been producing high-purity graphite in Ukraine for the past several years on a commercial scale. In fact, we have an industrial plant there with a capacity of approximately 2,400 tonnes per annum for high-purity graphite. We’ve been selling these products for several years, and now we’re taking the next step toward achieving 99.95% purity.

So, in a nutshell, Volt is an advanced materials and critical minerals company, focused on graphite, with high-value products at the core of our strategy.

Harry (GraphiteHub): Volt recently brought back former CEO Trevor Matthews as a non-executive director. Can you talk us through this move?

Prashant Chintawar (Volt Resources): Trevor was my predecessor as Managing Director and CEO of the company, and he brings a wealth of knowledge, particularly around ASX compliance and governance, as well as deep familiarity with our assets in Tanzania and Guinea.

His return to the board is not a realignment, but rather an optimisation of our existing resources. It’s about leveraging Trevor’s experience and skill set more effectively as we continue to place greater emphasis on our downstream operations. The goal is to ensure we’re maximizing value for Volt shareholders.

Harry (GraphiteHub): Could you provide an update on the Bunyu Graphite Project in Tanzania?

Prashant Chintawar (Volt Resources): We completed a Stage One Feasibility Study for the Tanzania project, which was published in August 2023. The study showed strong project financials, but unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to secure financing, likely due to the depressed graphite pricing environment.

Rather than just waiting for prices to recover, we’ve decided to proactively address the issue by tackling project costs head-on. Specifically, we’re focused on reducing both the capital and operating costs of the Stage One project.

Back in August 2023, the estimated capital cost was about USD 33 million, and the operating cost was around USD 670 per tonne. We’re now working closely with a partner to evaluate cost reduction. I’m pleased with the progress we’ve made so far and we’ll continue to work on this over the coming months. I remain hopeful that things will turn out to be positive.

Harry (GraphiteHub): Beyond the Scoping Study, what are the next key steps for bringing the Alabama Graphite Refinery online?

Prashant Chintawar (Volt Resources): Beyond Scoping Study, planned and ongoing tasks include test work, customer sampling, project financing, etc.  We won’t reach a Final Investment Decision until we secure financing for the project and progress through the typical development stages, moving from scoping study to feasibility study, Definitive and Bankable Feasibility Study (DFS/BFS), front-end engineering design, etc.

That said, the most exciting part of the recently released scoping study is that it confirms what we’ve believed all along: our process is not only technically innovative, but it also has a clear cost advantage. From a customer perspective, and the customers we’re targeting are not exclusively in the battery sector.

While the lithium-ion battery anode market is large and growing, it’s also overwhelmingly dominated by China and very capital intensive. That’s why the Alabama project isn’t solely focused on supplying for battery applications. We’re going after existing industrial markets for graphite.

Looking at U.S. import data, in 2024 alone, around 60,000 tonnes were imported, with roughly 8,000 tonnes re-exported. The majority of this was high-purity flake graphite, used in established industrial applications.

Currently, these markets are served either by a small number of domestic refineries, there may be one or two in the U.S., or predominantly by imports. Our Alabama refinery is designed to target that existing, proven demand.

Harry (GraphiteHub): The Scoping Study notes potential funding from US federal and state government programs, as well as offtake partners. How are those funding discussions progressing?

Prashant Chintawar (Volt Resources): It’s a multi-pronged strategy. From debt financing, to potentially equity, and looking at non-dilutive equity options. We’re in various stages of discussion on all these fronts, and we remain hopeful.

That’s largely because, as I mentioned, the project financials are very strong, and we’re targeting an existing market. We don’t need to convince anyone to wait for a new market to open.  We’re not waiting three, four, or five years for product qualification.

These discussions are ongoing across various fronts, including with both federal and state agencies.

Harry (GraphiteHub): What steps are you taking to reassure shareholders and improve the company’s financial position?

Prashant Chintawar (Volt Resources): We published our cash position at the end of March in quarterly report and, which was approximately AUD 450,000. We also have access to a loan facility from a lender we’ve worked with in the past.

That said, you must attack this issue from both sides. First, on the cost side, I believe the company has done a solid job managing costs in the current environment. Our cash burn for the 2024 calendar year was around A$2.2 million, which is significantly lower than in 2023. We’ve also managed operating costs effectively at the Zavalievsky graphite plant.

However, we’ve faced challenges in securing non-dilutive funding from the U.S. Department of Energy and were not successful in 2024. We’re learning from both our own experience and from others.

You can expect to see results before the end of the year as we work to secure financing for both the Alabama and Tanzania projects.

Harry (GraphiteHub): Looking ahead, could you walk us through the upcoming key milestones for Volt?

Prashant Chintawar (Volt Resources): Starting with the Tanzania project, we’re currently in discussions with the Government of Tanzania regarding the free carry interest and the framework agreement. Successfully concluding these negotiations would be a significant milestone,

Another key development is the ongoing work with our partner, which we believe will help drive the Tanzania project forward

On the downstream side, for the Alabama project, we have funding discussions underway. Our goal is to be in a position to announce progress to the market in Q4 2025, likely around September to December.

Lastly, at the Zavalievsky graphite plant in Ukraine, we’ve just launched a 1,000-ton production campaign a few days ago. This shows the resilience and dedication of our local team, especially given the challenging conditions on the ground. The plant has remained operational throughout the last three years, and hopeful about ramping up production.