The Big Mining Exhibition Show.

I recently browsed through “The 19th International Mining & Minerals Recovery Exhibition” held at the Jakarta International Expo site from 18 – 20 September 2019.

I arrived before the main halls opened at 10am, so ambled through the extensive outdoor exhibits. Most impressive were the enormous trucks and excavators, wherein the Hollywood transformers move makers would be envious. This year was noticeable with the outdoor exhibitors having upgraded some of their temporary booths into old James Bond style air-conditioned offices complete with white soft couches and the latest interactive wall screens. Outside in the heat, it was like the Universal studio’s tours, with live rock bands and show girls under shade umbrella’s plus lots of uniformed company staff to help take your picture against the backdrop of such impressive machines.  

Inside the immense halls, there was a wide variety of nations presenting their products and services. The number of Indonesian stands had increased, and the China stands were now less than 50%. Noticeably the China stands were now staffed with China nationals that could speak English and knew their products. The Koreans and Singapore stands were prominent, while the Canadian stand was a happy Disney flag tent in far corner of the event. Navigating through all this was like being in the Maze Runner, with the tiny Mines Department stall being a well-hidden treasure with reward show bags.

The content was strongly focussed on hard rock mining. Excavator attachments of giant rock picks, gripping claws and such that would be great accessories for Pacific Rising movie fans. There was just a few promoting quarry crushers & screens, and typically only pictures of mineral or coal process plants. Judging by the lack of emphases on mineral processing, it would seem that smelting is a horror story that is not a hit with the exhibitors or the crowds. I was pleasantly surprised with several stands promoting diamond bits & core barrel tools, presumably in recognition that brownfields gold exploration is an emerging new You Tube game.

I noticed only one stand displayed a few framed industry awards on its walls. Perhaps the old “silent black & white” industry awards are a thing of the past, and snappy colour promotional videos of digging machines, explosives and smiling staff with hard hats is the way of the future.

Most encouragingly is that some of the exhibitors mentioned that they felt this event was positive for their business, with deals arranged for follow through, and more meaningful client to supplier contact. It seems this exhibition will be the stimulus for more mining stories.

This is certainly a General Viewing activity suitable for small children to see what a bright future mining will bring them.