John Gorton, industrial exhibitions director with expo organiser Reed Exhibitions, said the trend for pre-registered visitors had been very strong and was expected to flow through to audiences over the four days of the exhibition.

 

"The last AIMEX in 2003 attracted 11,000 visitors and the trend is looking like we could even improve on that this week," Gorton told International Longwall News.

 

There is a strong international presence at this year's event, with national pavilions from Germany, Canada, the United States, India, South Africa, Chile, Poland and China.

 

Gorton said there was a very positive mood among suppliers and buyers at the expo about the way the industry is headed.

 

"This is definitely an exhibition that reflects the buoyant nature of the industry," he said.

 

There had been some concern in the lead-up to this year's AIMEX that the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, which has caused a lockdown in the Sydney central business district, could impact on the exhibit.

 

But the area around the Sydney Showground where the event is being held has been noticeably free of the traffic hassles that seem to be blighting the rest of Sydney.

 

AIMEX has attracted many of the largest suppliers in the mining industry, such as Sandvik, Atlas Copco, Hitachi and MTU.

 

Atlas Copco, for example, is using the event to showcase its Pit Viper PV-275 multi-pass blasthole drill rig, COP3038 Rock Drill and ROC D9 Silenced Smart Rig.

 

DBT launched its innovative new diesel-driven compact loader to the Australian market with an energetic tap dance display on, in and around the machine.

 

Meanwhile, Hitachi was literally drumming up interest with an oversized traditional Japanese drum driving out a beat.