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Guinea supplies a huge share of the traded bauxite market and that concentration is forcing buyers and investors to rethink supply security. We sit down with Ryan De Franck, Managing Director of VBX Limited, to unpack why the Wuudagu Bauxite Project in Western Australia’s North Kimberley could stand out in the global bauxite landscape through a simple idea: pair high-grade, low-silica bauxite with logistics that are short, efficient, and built around real customer needs. 

We talk through what makes Wuudagu strategically significant, from its proximity to the coast and protected sea conditions for transshipment, to the shipping advantage of being closer to key end-user regions such as China, India, and the Middle East. Ryan also explains the impact of VBX’s 108% lift in Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource to 131.9 million tonnes, and how that larger, higher-confidence base supports a bigger development case as the Definitive Feasibility Study progresses. 

Metallurgy gets a spotlight too, with recent test work indicating a 23% increase in mass recovery versus prior assumptions, and what that can mean for operating costs, profit margins, and payback timing if it carries through at scale. We finish with the execution roadmap: the DFS timeline toward mid-2026, a pathway to first production in 2027, and the near-term milestones that matter most, including traditional owner agreements, approvals, and definitive off-take and funding work with strategic partners. 

If you follow ASX mining, bauxite projects, aluminium supply chains, or energy transition materials, this is a sharp update you’ll want in your queue. Subscribe to ASX Briefs, share this episode with a mate watching the sector, and leave a review telling us which milestone you think will be the biggest value driver.