Diggers & Dealers is an annual

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

held in

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

which was first held in 1992. The 2021 event represented the 30th year of running of the event. It is "

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

's premier international mining conference".Diggers and Dealers 2010 - The Song Remains The Same
''

ABC Rural ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

'', author: Babs McHugh, published: 2 August 2010, accessed: 26 October 2010

History

The annual conference was initiated by Geoffrey J. Stokes in 1992, when the first edition, consisting of 150 delegates was held, but has since expanded to over 2,000 delegates annually.Official Diggers & Dealers website
accessed: 26 October 2010 Despite the conference having somewhat outgrown Kalgoorlie, a move to one of Australia's capital cities has not been considered. Former chairman Brian Hurley once described the outing as something of a "religious retreat", an attribute, he thinks, it would lose if it was to move to a capital city.

2009

The 2009 edition of the conference came in the wake of the

global financial crisis Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

, with 12,000 jobs having been lost in the Australian mining industry in the previous eight months. Despite this, Western Australian mining recovered much better than most, and the general mood was "upbeat", unlike in the previous year.

2010

The event, usually non-political and mining orientated, was overshadowed in 2010 by the upcoming Australian federal elections, held less than three weeks later. It was dominated by discussion about the unpopular

Mineral Resource Rent Tax The Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT) was a tax on profits generated from the mining of non-renewable resources in Australia. It was a replacement for the proposed Resource Super Profit Tax (RSPT). The tax, levied on 30% of the "super profits" fr ...

, MRRT, newly introduced by the

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...

Julia Gillard Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013, holding office as leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). She is the first and only ...

government, which was seen as disadvantaging the smaller mining companies and favouring the larger ones like

Rio Tinto Rio Tinto, meaning "red river", may refer to: Businesses * Rio Tinto (corporation), an Anglo-Australian multinational mining and resources corporation ** Rio Tinto Alcan, based in Canada ** Rio Tinto Borax in America *** Rio Tinto Borax Mine, ...

Xstrata Xstrata plc was an Anglo-Swiss multinational mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It was a major producer of coal (and the world's largest exporter of thermal coal), copper, ...

and

BHP Billiton BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

. The conferences chairman, Barry Eldridge, predicted the political backlash for the government already before the conference.Politics on the agenda at Diggers & Dealers mining conference
''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'', published: 31 July 2010, accessed: 26 October 2010 The 2010 conference was attended by 2,200 delegates. The conference stretches Kalgoorlie's abilities to accommodate all delegates to the extreme. Rooms are often booked out two years in advance, with nightly rates rising by 150% during the conference. Local residents are encouraged to rent out their houses during the event and leave town. A three-bedroom house can fetch several thousand dollars for three days. In 2010, the three-day program consisted of presentations by major and minor mining companies, especially gold miners. In 2010,

AngloGold Ashanti AngloGold Ashanti Limited is a global gold mining company. It was formed in 2004 by the merger of AngloGold and the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation. It is now a global gold producer with 21 operations on four continents. The company is listed ...

, through CEO Mark Cutifani,

Barrick Gold Barrick Gold Corporation is a mining company that produces gold and copper with 16 operating sites in 13 countries. It is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It has mining operations in Argentina, Canada, Chile, Côte d'Ivoire, Democrati ...

, through Gary Halverson, President Asia Pacific and

Fortescue Metals Group Fortescue Metals Group Limited (often referred to as Fortescue Metals Group, FMG, or simply Fortescue) is an Australian iron ore company. As of 2017, Fortescue is the fourth-largest iron ore producer in the world. The company has holdings of ...

, represented by CEO

Andrew Forrest John Andrew Henry Forrest (born 18 November 1961), nicknamed Twiggy, is an Australian businessman. He is best known as the former CEO (and current non-executive chairman) of Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), and has other interests in the mining i ...

, were some of the major presenters. Another outcome of the 2010 conference was the recognition that mining had to lift its profile nationally and to advertise better its record on "job creation, relations with indigenous people and its environmental record".

After the mining boom

Despite a downturn in mining in 2015 the event was still held. 2020 saw the conference move to October due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. It was subsequently moved back to August.

Fees

As of 2010, a premium three-day pass as a delegate to the conference costs A$1,750, while a one-day pass is A$750.

Awards

Annually, the conference hands out a number of awards for achievements in the mining industry. Since 1997, the ''G.J. Stokes Memorial Award'', the ''Digger Award'' and the ''Dealer Award'' are awarded. In 2003, a ''Media Award'' was added and in 2007, a ''Best Emerging Company'' award. Former award winners include

Joseph Gutnick Joseph Isaac "Diamond Joe" Gutnick (born June 1952; he, יוסף יצחק הכהן גוטניק) is an Australian businessman, mining industry entrepreneur and the former president of the Melbourne Football Club(1996-2001). He is also an ordain ...

(1997), the only individual to win the ''Digger Award'', and

Robert Champion de Crespigny Robert James Champion de Crespigny, AC (born 1950) is a multi-millionaire Australian businessman and founder of Normandy Mining Limited. Currently estimated with his ownership in PBE and Rutherford corporations his net worth is near 1B. In 2004 ...

, former CEO of

Normandy Mining Normandy Mining was an Australian mining company which predominantly mined gold. Normandy was, during much of the late 20th century, Australia's largest gold miner.

G.J. Stokes Memorial award

Named after the Diggers & Dealers founder and ''awarded to a long time servant of the mining industry'' :1997 -

Arvi Parbo Sir Arvi Hillar Parbo (10 February 1926 – 1 May 2019) was a business executive who was concurrently chairman of three of Australia's largest companies, Alcoa World Alumina & Chemicals, Munich Re, and Zurich Australian Insurance. Early lif ...

:1998 - Ian Burston :1999 -

Charles Court Sir Charles Walter Michael Court, (29 September 1911 – 22 December 2007) was a Western Australian politician, and the 21st Premier of Western Australia from 1974 to 1982. He was a member of the Liberal Party. Early life Court's family e ...

:2000 - Roy Woodall :2001 - not awarded :2002 - David J Reed :2003 -

Trevor Sykes Trevor William Sykes (born 14 September 1937) is an Australian finance journalist who until his retirement in 2005 wrote the Pierpont column in the Australian Financial Review ''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'' ...

:2004 -

Laurence Brodie-Hall Sir Laurence "Brodie" Brodie-Hall (10 June 1910 – 1 October 2006) was an influential figure in the mining industry of Western Australia (WA). Early life Brodie-Hall was born in London and emigrated to Australia in 1924, leaving his parents. H ...

:2005 - Peter Newton :2006 - Graeme Smith, George Botica, Barry Paterson and Ron Harken :2007 - Pierre Lassonde :2008 - Owen Hegarty :2009 - Nick Giorgetta :2010 - David Moore :2011 - George Jones :2012 - Geoff Loudon :2013 -

:2014 - Jim Walker :2015 - Mark Cutifani :2016 - Christopher Bonwick :2017 - Jim Askew :2018 - Ron Sayers :2019 -

Mark Creasy Mark Gareth Creasy (born 1944) is a Western Australian mining entrepreneur. Biography Creasy arrived in Australia in the 1960s, and trained as a mining engineer. He has developed various mining projects in Western Australia and other states ...

:2020 -

Gina Rinehart Georgina Hope Rinehart (née Hancock, born 9 February 1954) is an Australian mining magnate and businesswoman. Rinehart is the Executive Chairman of Hancock Prospecting, a privately owned mineral exploration and extraction company founded by ...

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diggers and Dealers City of Kalgoorlie–Boulder Mining in Western Australia Trade fairs in Australia August events