CELEBRATING 50 years this year, Electra Mining Africa saw thousands of buyers and sellers coming together at the Expo Centre in Nasrec, Johannesburg from 5-9 September to meet in person and see the latest innovation and new products, services and technologies that were on display at the show.
“It was amazing to be back after 4 year years and we were blown away,” says Gary Corin, Managing Director of Specialised Exhibitions, a division of the Montgomery Group. “The industry came out in full force in support of the show with over 650 exhibitors occupying just less than 30,000 square metres of indoor and outdoor exhibition space, and with over 30,000 visitors through the gates. Although we’ve come out of a very tough period following the pandemic, the sense of anticipation and the positivity that has been expressed on the floor of the exhibition throughout the show has been enormous. It was back to meeting face to face, making connections, client facing – people loving the exhibition environment that has been missed. It’s been great to welcome people to Electra Mining Africa again from all parts of the globe including many visitors from neighbouring African countries.”
“The quality of stands has been outstanding with exhibitors representing large and medium companies as well as start-ups and SMMEs, each wanting a chance to be at this year’s Electra Mining Africa. Some of the companies have exhibited with us for the 50 years of Electra Mining Africa, many starting with a nine square metre stand and some of them now having a couple of hundred square metre designer stands,” says Corin. “What better way to bring a brand to life on the floor of an exhibition where you are engaging with your target market and your potential target market. It’s really a unique, value-proposition to come to an event like this, to bring your brand to life.”
There were many innovative new products, services and technologies launched at Electra Mining Africa. Congratulations went to ABC Ventilation Systems, overall winners of the Electra Mining Africa 2022 Innovation and New Products Awards for their latest innovation. They were also winners of the ‘Local Manufacturing Innovation: New Product Mining category Award’. On receiving the awards, Terry Pearce, MD of ABC Ventilation Systems said that “running a business in South Africa is tough and an award like this makes the last 16 years worthwhile.”
The new forklift driver competition organised in conjunction with Lifting Africa and the Lifting Equipment Engineering Association of SA (LEEASA) saw many forklift operators, all in possession of a valid forklift license, competing for the coveted title of Forklift Driver Champion. Exceptional forklift driver skills were put to the test with the competition aiming to recognise and reward highly skilled and safety conscious operators. The winner of the competition was Ian Roux who received the Champions trophy and a cash prize of fifteen thousand rand.
The automation technology hall was a big addition to the show and as expected drew a lot of interest with the automation focussed free-to-attend seminars also popular amongst visitors. The seminars were hosted by the Society for Automation Instrumentation Mechatronics and Control (SAIMC).
Also well received were the South African Institute of Mechanical Engineering (SAIMechE) free-to-attend seminars which saw over forty speakers presenting a variety of content-rich topics aligned with the show’s theme days of automation, innovation, safety, future skills and South African Day. Connections were made and knowledge gained at the Women in Mining South Africa (WiMSA) Workshop and at the LEEASA Conference, both of which took place at the show.
International participation included the Austrian, German and Italian Pavilions as well as exhibitors from India, Chile, France, Australia, USA, Taiwan, Turkey, Switzerland, UK, Poland and Canada.
