Australia’s civil construction contractors will find plenty of innovative products and services directly relevant to their industry when Australia’s largest mining exhibition opens in Sydney in late August.
Asia-Pacific’s International Mining Exhibition – AIMEX 2013 will be held at the Sydney Showground from August 20-23, and will have more than 600 exhibitors covering an exhibition space of over 45,000 sq m.
Of these, more than 100 exhibitors have identified themselves as showing construction industry-related products and services, including earthmoving and related equipment, components and parts, tyres, fabrication services, plant hire systems and more.
Exhibition Director Paul Baker said that being an international event, AIMEX 2013 had attracted the latest productivity-enhancing and efficiency-improving innovations from suppliers around the world – many of which were also applicable to the civil construction industry.
“There is a great deal of commonality between mining and civil construction,” he said.
“The equipment across both industries is much the same – the primary difference being in terms of size – and both face many similar issues, challenges and opportunities.
“These include improving operational efficiency, driving down costs and increasing productivity – as well as issues such as safety, attracting and keeping skilled operators, and managing the trend towards increased automation,” he said.
“In addition of course, many civil and earthmoving contractors are engaged directly with the mining industry, whether in haul road construction and maintenance, contract mining, minesite preparation and rehabilitation, plant hire, infrastructure construction or maintenance works.
“This makes AIMEX an ideal venue for contractors looking to network with peers and clients, and seek out new opportunities.”
Baker said this year’s exhibition would be unmatched in terms of new products and services on display – and a unique opportunity to see the latest mining technology innovations aimed at increasing productivity and reducing operating costs.
Many of these had direct relevance to the civil construction industry – with innovations in the mining industry often flowing through to construction.
“The mining industry is going through a very rapid rate of change and innovation, with a correspondingly fast pace of product development,” Baker said.
“In response to this, the emphasis among exhibitors and displays at AIMEX 2013 will be all about innovation; how the very latest processes, systems, services and products can meet industry demands for productivity and efficiency gains.
“And in years to come, many of these innovations and trends will start to show up in the construction industry.
“A prime example of this is mining’s trend towards increased automation and autonomous machine operation, with the aim of making mining operations as much as possible like a factory process.
“Similar trends are working their way through the civil construction sector – and it will see lots of this technology start to appear down the track.”
Visitor registration for AIMEX 2013 is now open (through www.aimex.com.au), with visitors strongly recommended to pre-register as a way of speeding their entry to the exhibition. A full exhibitor directory, including details of new equipment, products and services being introduced at the exhibition, is also available online.
10 reasons why AIMEX 2013 is an essential event for civil contractors
- More than 100 exhibitors showing construction and earthmoving-specific products and services
- High degree of commonality between civil construction and mining
- Innovative new products with direct relevance to contractors
- Mining is a major user of civil construction-related services, including mine development, mine maintenance, mine infrastructure development, mine rehabilitation, contract mining and plant hire.
- Mining is a key trend-setter for construction: see what the future of the industry holds
- Network with peers and professionals in like-minded industries
- Meet potential customers and clients in the mining industry
- Opportunity for cross-fertilisation of ideas between mining and civil construction
- Learn from mining industry’s hard-fought safety lessons
- Focus on new technologies, products and services designed to help earthmoving industries:
- Cut costs
- Increase productivity
- Boost efficiency
- Get more from existing plant, equipment and processes.