Most mining exhibitions are about equipment. IMARC is about the industry as a whole — strategy, capital, policy, technology, and the people who move all four. That broader scope is what distinguishes it from the purely machinery-focused shows on the calendar, and it explains why more than 10,000 delegates from over 120 countries make the trip to Sydney each October.

The 2025 International Mining and Resources Conference + Expo runs October 21 to 23 at ICC Sydney, the convention centre on the edge of Darling Harbour. It's Australia's largest mining event by attendance, and by most measures the most internationally connected mining gathering in the Asia-Pacific region.

Conference First, Exhibition Second

IMARC runs six concurrent conference streams across the three days, covering the full mining value chain from exploration and project finance through to mine closure and rehabilitation. The 2025 program centers on a theme the industry is wrestling with everywhere right now: accessing capital, talent, technology, and territory while managing decarbonisation and risk at the same time.

The speaker lineup for 2025 includes the CEO of Thiess, the chair of Vale Base Metals, the BHP Group Procurement Officer, the Idemitsu CEO, and the Australian Federal Minister for Resources. Alongside them sit government ministers from Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Botswana, New Zealand, Uganda, and Timor-Leste — five continents represented at the ministerial level. That political dimension is unusual for a mining show. It reflects IMARC's positioning as a place where investment decisions get made, not just products browsed.

The Mines and Money investor forum runs concurrently within the event, bringing institutional investors and fund managers into direct contact with exploration and development companies. Mining Spotlight sessions let smaller companies pitch live to investor panels — a format that has driven real capital commitments in past editions.

The Exhibition Floor

The expo component covers 20,000 square meters and hosts more than 500 exhibitors. That's a significant floor for a conference-led event. Exhibitors range from the major OEMs and technology companies through to drill core analysis labs, mine planning software vendors, and specialist consultancies.

A dedicated Innovation and Investment Alley brings together startups and R&D teams alongside the established players — a deliberate effort to surface emerging technology to investors and procurement officers in the same space. In 2025, IMARC added a new R&D zone specifically for breakthrough technologies, with guided expo tours for operators trying to navigate the wider floor.

The Mining Operators Series is also new for 2025. It targets the site-level professionals — shift supervisors, maintenance leads, technical specialists — who don't typically attend the senior leadership-heavy conference sessions but who make day-to-day purchasing and specification decisions on the ground. Access is free for qualifying mine site employees.

Quick Reference

Why the Sydney Location Works

ICC Sydney is a purpose-built convention and exhibition facility adjacent to Darling Harbour, about ten minutes from the central business district. It can handle the combination of a large-scale exhibition and multiple simultaneous conference rooms that IMARC requires — not every venue in the Asia-Pacific can do both at the scale IMARC needs.

Sydney itself functions as a regional financial hub, which matters for an event where investment deal flow is a key metric of success. The city's proximity to Southeast Asian and Pacific mining markets, combined with direct flight access from North America, Europe, and Africa, makes it a practical gathering point for a genuinely global audience.

Relevance for Equipment and Attachment Suppliers

IMARC draws a buyer profile that's different from a pure machinery show. Procurement officers from major mining houses attend alongside the CEO-level delegates. The 2025 program includes a dedicated session on global procurement strategy, featuring BHP's Group Procurement Officer — a signal of how seriously the event treats the supply chain conversation. For companies in the hydraulic breaker and demolition attachment segment, IMARC offers access to centralised procurement teams from the world's largest mining operators, often in a less crowded environment than the pure equipment shows where attachment manufacturers compete for attention against haul trucks and drill rigs.