What’s new and what’s hot at IMARC 2026
- 1 October 2026
Australia’s resources minister Madeleine King has said the country is at the centre of international efforts to build stable and reliable critical material supply chains and this will never be more evident than at the International Mining and Resources Conference + Expo (IMARC) in Sydney this month.
The mining and metals world will descend on ICC Sydney from October 27-29 and will be joined by financial, political, scientific and manufacturing leaders from a staggering 120-plus countries.
Why is Australia so central to current thinking on minerals and metals supply?
“The trends impacting the mining and metals sector feel almost unprecedented and Australia is in the eye of the storm,” Deloitte Australia mining & metals leader Nicki Ivory has said. “Our abundant critical mineral supply, once seen primarily as an energy transition enabler, is now at the centre of global national security discussions. Companies are expected to balance powering clean energy with reinforcing defence strategies, all while meeting growing consumer demand.”
Another IMARC 2026 speaker, mining economist and Critical Minerals Security Program director at the US Center for Strategic and International Studies, Gracelin Baskaran, put Australia at the top of a global list of “partners” she saw as vital to US efforts to counter China’s stranglehold on critical minerals supply chains. “Taken together [Australia’s] resources, capital and talent make one fact clear: US mineral security cannot be achieved without Australia.”
Baskaran and Ivory head a who’s who list of international mining and metals market experts on the IMARC 2026 program underlining its claim to being the hottest mining conference ticket available at this time of year.
Other top-level speakers include BHP chief enterprise performance officer Edgar Basto, Alcoa Australia president Elsabe Muller, Appian Capital Advisory critical minerals CEO Paulo Castellari, mining investment guru Rick Rule, industry visionaries Jake Klein and Mark Cutifani, and China Mining Association president Cheng Liwei.
Senior leaders from the world’s biggest gold, copper, iron ore, rare earths and coal companies will join their contemporaries from engineering heavyweights such as WSP, Aecom, Arup and Jacobs and major mining contractors such as Thiess, Byrnecut, Perenti and Macmahon, in event forums and networking lounges.
And we’re really just getting warmed up.
What else is hot at IMARC this year?
The world’s leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and technology companies – from Hitachi Construction Machinery, Weir, Metso, Epiroc, Sandvik, Hexagon and FLS to Australia’s IMDEX – will be in town with enough new stuff to fill the back of an ultra-class truck. More on that below.
The event will welcome an unprecedented line-up of senior government officials from Europe, USA, Canada, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Chile and Peru, as well as the full complement of Australian state and territory administrations.
More than 30 country pavilions will be dotted across the 20,000-square-metre exhibition floor, reinforcing IMARC’s status as the largest platform in Australia to explore trade, investment and cross-border collaboration in mining and resources.
“IMARC’s timing could not be better,” said a spokesperson for Team Finland, which returns to the event with a Finnish business delegation led by the country’s economic affairs minister, Sakari Puisto (below).
“The upcoming EU–Australia Free Trade Agreement, Australia’s association with Horizon Europe and the EU–Australia MOU on Sustainable Critical and Strategic Minerals together create an unprecedented window of opportunity, opening the door for Finnish companies to expand, innovate and scale like never before.”
Business Sweden CEO Jan Larsson no doubt agrees on timing. He will be at IMARC for the first time this year.
And speakers from Vale, Codelco, Antamina and SQM will lead a powerful South American presence at the event.
Meanwhile, attending export credit agencies including KfW IPEX, the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea EXIM), US EXIM, Export Development Canada, UK Export Finance and Japan Bank for International Cooperation highlight the increasingly important role these groups have in helping to mobilise capital and address financing gaps across critical mineral value chains.
“EXIM is moving boldly into the industries of the future,” US EXIM chairman John Jovanovic said last month.
Alyssa Pettus, US EXIM Bank senior vice president and chief of staff, leads the bank’s IMARC presence and adds a senior US government voice to the event’s international program.
In terms of valuable new IMARC insights and unique takeaways:
- Visitors can this year get an exclusive look at one of mining’s most anticipated annual industry surveys in the form of EY’s 2027 Business Risks and Opportunities report.
- Austrade’s latest Critical Minerals Prospectus will be available.
- The Gold Industry Group is bringing World Gold Council chief strategy officer Terry Heymann, Evolution Mining CFO Fran Summerhayes and Westgold CEO Wayne Bramwell together for a “candid conversation about what trust really means in gold today and what it costs – or earns – a company that gets it right”.
- The aforementioned Rick Rule will tell his audience how to get a cheque from him (warning: not getting any easier).
- Faisal Alharbi, CFO of Saudi Mining Services Company (ESNAD), the executive and operational arm of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, comes to IMARC for the first time to provide a close-up examination of one of the world’s hottest mineral investment jurisdictions.
- New Minerals Council of Australia chair Amanda Lacaze will regale IMARC Gala Dinner guests with her unique views on mining’s main issues. With more than 25 years in senior executive positions across mining, telecommunications, marketing and consumer goods, including 13 years heading Lynas Rare Earths, Lacaze is one of Australia’s most respected corporate leaders.
- The American Exploration & Mining Association, Australia’s Association of Mining and Exploration Companies and leading Asia Pacific investment firm Tribeca host first-time pavilions in a mining investment hub featuring 50% more juniors than last year.
- IMARC’s Innovation & Investment Alley returns in 2026 with exciting start-ups and world-class R&D. Ecohoist, Evaporation King, Liberate Minerals, NOVYNS, SpaceDraft, Reveal, OreStrike, Spatialis AI, Proxion and the Australian Resources Technology and Critical Minerals Trailblazer are all highlighting new productivity, efficiency and safety pathways.
Outside of the Innovation & Investment Alley there will be no shortage of important technological and engineering advances on display at IMARC 2026.
Here are some of them.
Hexagon next-generation VIS
Mining technology leader Hexagon has launched its next-generation Vehicle Intervention System (VIS), aimed at preventing surface mining vehicle collisions. An EMESRT (Earthmoving Equipment Safety Round Table) Level 9 vehicle intervention system, VIS “can automatically take control of a machine in defined high-risk situations when safety thresholds are breached, helping to prevent incidents, protect personnel and support operational continuity”, the company says.
Hexagon Mining president Dave Goddard said: “Surface mining operators continue to face complex safety challenges in dynamic environments where visibility, fatigue, environmental conditions and human factors can contribute to risk. When milliseconds matter, mines need technology that can act decisively. The next generation of VIS builds on years of operational experience and proven deployments to provide the highest level of intervention available, helping customers protect people, equipment and productivity.”
Hexagon says VIS has been deployed in mine production environments since 2018, supporting safer on four continents. It says the new platform builds on that operational foundation while expanding intervention coverage and improving system precision to address evolving industry requirements.
Found out more at stand Q21.
FLS has a new line
Denmark’s FLS will have plenty to say about new products at stand Q17 at IMARC but it will also preview a whole new business line.
Its recently announced Crushing, Sizing & Screening (CSS) arm officially becomes operational at the start of 2027, adding to existing services, capital products and pumps, cyclones and valves (PC&V) units. A new corporate strategy for the purely mining-focused FLS, which exited cement last year, is being formulated.
“This structural shift marks a pivotal step in enabling our growth journey,” FLS CEO Toni Laaksonen has said. “Expanding to four business lines allows us to further sharpen our customer focus and significantly increase our execution power across the company.
“We are building a stronger, more agile foundation to deliver even greater long-term value for our customers.”
KOR is cleaning up
Victorian-headquartered KOR Equipment Solutions says it continues to grow the Cappellotto footprint in the mining sector, with the Italian manufacturer’s industrial vacuum trucks supporting clean-up and maintenance activities at sites across Australia and New Zealand.
Visitors to stand R39 at IMARC can learn more about the CAP VAC 3200 Industrial (CVI) and CAP BORA 3200 XL 10x4 vehicles and a major milestone for KOR.
A spokesperson said the high-powered wet-and-dry vacuum recovery units were engineered for heavy-duty vacuum recovery, clean-up and shutdown maintenance and had been used in some of the region’s main mining districts. They provided a “contained and efficient way to recover dust, ash, coal fines, mineral concentrates, sludges and other bulk materials from difficult or restricted locations”.
The spokesperson said the timing of IMARC was also significant for KOR, which was “celebrating the delivery of its 1000th Cappellotto truck into the Australian and New Zealand markets”.
Drill-data gains easy to Acquire
IMARC runs for three days and leading mining software firm Acquire Technology Solutions says that’s how long it can take to deploy its Blackfox cloud-based drilling management software.
Directly integrated this year with Acquire’s flagship GIM Suite geoscientific information management software, Blackfox is an integral part of an increasingly expansive data-driven decision-making opportunity in mining. Acquire, celebrating its 30th birthday this year, bought US-based Blackfox Tech in 2024 and recently launched the GIM Suite integration.
“The integration streamlines how drillhole data moves between the two systems, helping mining companies reduce manual data transfers, improve data integrity and initialise drill programs faster,” Acquire says.
“With the new integration hole collar details captured in GIM Suite can be transferred directly into the drillhole planning interface within Blackfox. It reduces the risk of incorrect hole information being used when initialising a drill program in Blackfox and means geologists and drilling teams can share data faster from the same source of truth.”
Acquire says the integration reflects its broader focus on connecting critical data across the mining value chain. Together, the products closed the gap between geological data and downstream drilling processes, giving mining and drilling teams a clearer, more consistent view of their drilling plans and operations.
Don’t miss a chance to learn more at stand B16.
DORA the (high-tech) explorer arrives on IMARC screens
Canada’s Vrify has had another busy year and says it now has more than 180 mining and exploration companies using its software. IMARC visitors will get the chance to hear about the evolution of DORA, Vrify’s AI prospectivity mapping software, and VRIFY Present, introduced to the market this year, at stand B17.
Jack Chanmala, senior geophysicist, research and development, with the company in Australia, says its software lets him combine geophysics and geology with “fast, data-driven workflows that help clients make more objective exploration decisions with confidence”.
As a geoscience professional, it was “rewarding to see how high-quality geophysical data, when integrated with the geological context of a project, can improve targeting and reduce uncertainty in exploration programs”.
Chanmala, who will speak at IMARC on advanced use of legacy data to de-risk new discoveries – “Targeting 4.0” – believes AI and other technology can positively impact his work and ultimately industry discovery rates. “It can significantly speed up the decision-making process and help teams think outside the box by highlighting new geological relationships or overlooked opportunities,” he says.
New Weir Warman step-change
Warman is an iconic name in Australian mine fluid handling circles. Weir’s recent launch of the WARMAN MCR² mill circuit pump, after field trials in high-wear mill circuit applications on three continents, has caused a stir.
“Mill circuit duties continue to evolve as operators process increasingly challenging orebodies and look to maximise performance from existing assets,” the manufacturer’s global engineering and technology VP, John McNulty, said. “WARMAN MCR technology applies our expertise in hydraulics, materials science and digital technology to the areas of the pump that most influence wear, performance and ease of service. Together, these advances represent a step-change in WARMAN mill circuit pump design, giving operators greater control over how they manage the asset throughout its operating life.”
Weir says the WARMAN MCR² pump features no fewer than eight patented technologies – hydraulics, wear management, serviceability and condition monitoring – which is pretty good going for one design. Still, it is a design built on decades of slurry pumping “expertise and insights from the world’s largest installed base of mill circuit pumps”, the manufacturer says.
Visitors can experience it first-hand at Q09.
Timely contract opens Onterris window
US-based Onterris’ mining market sector leader Dr Mark Breitfuss is part of an important IMARC 2026 discussion about the enduring value of embedding sustainability, community trust and environmental considerations in mining and metals project planning and delivery, making the company’s recent significant project win in Queensland quite timely.
Onterris picked up a circa-A$6 million, multi-year contract to deliver environmental services for a large mining operation, where it will operate as regulatory liaison and oversee project management, scope gap assessment and technical study coordination. It will also prepare and submit the project’s environmental impact statement (EIS).
“Onterris exists to help clients solve complex environmental challenges while advancing responsible industrial progress,” CEO Vijay Manthripragada said at the time. “This project demonstrates how rigorous environmental assessment, regulatory clarity and practical stewardship can support the resources and infrastructure that communities and economies continue to rely on.”
Breitfuss says the contract gives Onterris an opportunity to coordinate its teams in Australia, the US and Canada to develop robust technical assessments and an application able to meet the demands of a rigorous regulatory process.
“Sustainable mining is central to our ethos,” he says.
“Onterris takes its responsibility in the mining and critical minerals sector seriously and we continue to invest in the development of our people to uphold the highest quality standards.”
