This week Austrade kicks off a month of activities focused on the mining and resources sector.

The program commences with the Asia Pacific’s International Mining Exhibition (AIMEX) in Sydney from 1-4 September, followed by Paydirt’s Africa Down Under Conference (2-4 September) in Perth.

AIMEX is one of the world’s largest mining exhibitions focusing on the mining, equipment, technology, services sector, while Africa Down Under, now in its 13^th year, brings together government officials and business leaders from both major and junior firms to discuss the African industry.

Austrade Executive Director Grame Barty said demand for Australian capability, expertise and technology remained high, despite the current soft pricing of some major resource commodities.

“Interest in the Australian industry is evidenced by the strong showing from overseas delegations coordinated by Austrade,” Mr Barty said.

“This year we have delegations from China, India, Canada and Chile all taking the time to come to Australia for AIMEX as well as a large delegation of key officials from Africa for the conference in Perth,” he said.

Austrade’s overseas offices will also be coordinating Australian participation at key mining events in major offshore markets including OZmine in Indonesia (7-8 September), Exposibraum in Brazil (14-17 September), ExplORE Philippines (14–18 September), Peru’s Extemin 2015 (21-25 September) and Kazakhstan Mining (21–25 September) finishing with EXPOMIN (7-10 October) in Acapulco, Mexico.

“Innovation and sustainable cost efficiencies are crucial in the current environment and Australian firms have a lot to offer international businesses be they large or small.”

“Austrade will continue to work with industry partners such as Austmine, HunterNet, Industry Capability Networks and other federal and state government agencies to position our industry internationally and identify sound commercial opportunities,” Mr Barty said.

Austrade and Austmine will shortly be signing a Collaboration Plan to further support the global presence of Australian mining companies.

Austrade has a strong international network, with offices in major centres of mining throughout the world.