The International Mining and Resources Conference and Expo (IMARC) once again descended on the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre from 29–31 October, with a record 9,000 delegates from 115 countries crossing the threshold.
When not exploring the over 20,000m2 of exhibition floor, attendees were able to attend the more than 370 technical talks, panel discussions and keynotes taking place across the nine concurrent conferences.
Federal Minister for Resources and Northern Territory, Madeleine King, spoke at the conference for her third consecutive year as Australia’s resources minister.
During her address, Ms King highlighted the importance of the resources sector in delivering growth opportunities and benefits to the nation.
“Royalties from mining projects across our country help to build roads and hospitals, just as Australian iron ore and metallurgical coal have produced the steel that built the great cities of Asia.
“Growing our resources sector is key to achieving the net zero transition and securing a Future Made in Australia,” Ms King said.
International representation
“IMARC brings together an enormous number of companies, exhibitors and senior representatives of countries from around the world here to beautiful Sydney to discuss mining and resources,” Ms King said.
Canada, Chile, Peru, Germany, Timor-Leste and France were just some of the companies with representation on the exhibition floor.
General Manager at Terrain Tamer, Brent Hutchinson, commended the event on its international presence and said Australia exports its mining expertise and knowledge well.
“[IMARC works for us because we’re growing globally and this is an international show,” he said.
“It’s Australia’s true international mining show.”
Forging connections
Over the three-day event, hundreds of meetings between miners and investors also took place at IMARC Connect. The networking opportunities on offer at IMARC 2024 was a key standout for MASPRO Regional Business Development Manager, Roxanne Bekker.
“The networking is very valuable. I always tend to catch up with the same clients coming to IMARC, touching base and really finding out what the new problems in the industry are.”
Ms Bekker stressed the importance of learning from these conversations and workshopping with the team about what could be done to solve these issues.
“Every year, as things change, as we solve certain problems, new ones arise. You have to keep moving forward,” she said.
MASPRO National Sales Manager, Peter Lowenhoff, echoed Ms Bekker’s enthusiasm.
“I’ve had some good conversations with a couple of different companies, getting a great understanding of their whole fleet in areas and the even different mines that they actually operate on.
“I got a greater understanding of what’s happening in South America and had some good conversations with people from Peru,” he said. “I’m very interested in working with companies that we can help in those areas.”
Looking ahead
Sydney is already locked in as the host of the 2025 event, with around 70 per cent of exhibition space already sold.
IMARC COO, Anita Richards, thanked the efforts of IMARC’s Founding Partners, Austmine, AusIMM and Mines and Money, and the support of the New South Wales Government as Host Partner.
“A special thank you must also go to our sponsors and exhibitors, whose invaluable contributions are propelling us into the future,” Ms Richards said.
