By Sharyn Macnamara
Electra Mining Africa 2024 will connect people, products, services and innovation across industries – in the single biggest trading market in South Africa – and will stimulate the South African economy with spin-offs for the region as a whole, with sustainability top of mind this year.
1. Gary Corin, managing director at Specialised Exhibitions. 2. Charlene Hefer, portfolio director at Specialised Exhibitions. Supplied by Specialised Exhibitions.
Electra Mining Africa 2024 is due to hit Joburg’s Nasrec Expo Centre from 2–6 September offering a face-to-face, 5-in-1 trade show experience together with ELENEX Africa, POWERex, AUTOMATION Expo, and TRANSPORT Expo and the LOCAL Southern African Manufacturing Expo. Servicing five interconnected industries – mining, electrical, automation, power and transport – with manufacturing at its core, this home-grown event presents a large-scale opportunity for industry stakeholders and business decision-makers to connect, collaborate and secure a place in a fast-paced, automated and interconnected future.
Mining, just one of the interconnected industries this event speaks to, contributed 6.2% to South Africa’s GDP and employed 477 000 people in 2023. The sector forms a fundamental part of the country’s economy, but “mining is no longer just about extracting minerals and metals from the ground, its about manufacturing and beneficiation, ancillary services and new technologies that all facilitate a streamlined AI leaning type manufacturing environment. It is about the full value chain around the industrial markets that we serve and developing an industrialised, inclusive and sustainable economy,” says Gary Corin, managing director at Specialised Exhibitions – the largest trade exhibition organiser in southern Mining, just one of the interconnected industries Electra Mining Africa speaks to, contributed 6.2% to South Africa’s GDP and employed 477 000 people in 2023. Africa and a division of Montgomery Group, which has organised and run Electra Mining Africa since its inception.
The essence of Electra Mining Africa
“What makes Electra Mining Africa as unique and beneficial as it has proven to be over the past 52 years, is the fact that the industry comes together to trade, to share ideas and ultimately to exchange value – whether on a technology, product, services, local or international-driven level, or a combination of all of these. The business community gathers under one roof for five days of jam-packed opportunity in the single biggest trading market that this country has to offer, every two years to do business to stimulate trade in the industrial manufacturing and mining sectors of the southern African economy,” says Corin.
Charlene Hefer, portfolio director at the company adds, “Electra Mining Africa is southern Africa’s largest mining, electrical, automation, manufacturing, power and transport trade show and we believe that this year’s show is going to be the biggest show in the history of Electra Mining Africa. The number of exhibiting companies signed up for the show has already exceeded the 650 in 2022 by 30% – and with this, comes new businesses that have entered the fray, new ideas and innovation.” Mas power, Scania, Sky Jacks, Bovu Pumps, Komatsu, BAOFN Compressors, Phillips Global, AQS Liquid, BKT Tyres, Vega, Rockwell and Bell Equipment have already signed up – to name but a few of the companies confirmed for 2024.
Supplied by Minerals Council South Africa
Electra Mining Africa for SA
Hefer explains that the event has always been a South African show for the South African market and this year 93% of the companies exhibiting are local. The balance of the solution providers are international companies – and these businesses, says Corin, are strategically focused on finding traction within South Africa in terms of supply and local distributors or agencies to set up a local base and invest in the local economy.
Also, to this end, Specialised Exhibitions, together with the South African Capital Equipment Export Council, has invited a number of expert buyers from Africa, Europe and South America who want to procure innovation and benchmark local solutions against what is available in their markets. Ultimately Electra Mining Africa drives development that meets the needs of the current local business environments to augment the economy on the home front and supports the southern African business community to aid it in meeting its goals for the future – nurturing relationships and developing local opportunities that promote equity, diversity and inclusion in the long-term.
Sustainability top of mind
This ethos is in line with Montgomery Group’s public pledge to reduce emissions by 2030 in support of the Paris Agreement. The company has developed an Environmental Sustainability Policy which includes the reduction of its greenhouse gas emissions and the company’s waste footprint within the organisation and at all the events it delivers. The group’s decisions go beyond profitability and are centred on a desire to have a positive impact on the world, focusing on values that support a growth mindset, embrace collaboration, empower industry and enable Net Zero Carbon industry events working collaboratively towards achieving net zero by 2050.
The Electra Mining Africa ‘every day, a theme a day’ concept supports this drive with selected themes reflecting key issues in the industry currently and they are: ◦
Day 1: Sustainability Day | The first 300 Electra Mining Africa visitors in 2024 will receive a Spekboom, a strong symbol of the main theme of the event; ◦
Day 2: Women and skills development day | The first 300 women to visit Electra Mining Africa on this day will receive a welcome gift; the WiMSA workshop and WiMBIZ networking lounge will be highlights of this day at the show; ◦
Day 3: Lifting and Safety Day | A focus on Occupational Health & Safety and the beloved forklift competition that débuted in 2022; ◦
Day 4: Innovation Day | The new product competition highlighting innovation in the industry will be “bigger and better”, says Hefer after its success in 2022; ◦
Day 5: South African Day | Celebrating 93% local content at Electra Mining Africa
Knowledge sharing Electra Mining Africa’s ‘free-to-attend’ seminars in turn will align with these themes on the selected days and will run in the SA Institution of Mechanical Engineering (SAIMechE) hosted seminar theatres throughout the day from around 10:00 to 14:00/15:00 in the afternoon, with industry specialists speaking and engaging on theme day topics.
Over and above the seminars, the co-located shows will be supported by a programme of content-rich conferences and to date, LEAASA and WiMSA (Women in Mining South Africa) have already confirmed their workshops. In addition, respected associations and industry organisations will be partnering with Electra Mining Africa, such as the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM), Mining Equipment Manufacturers of South Africa (MEMSA), Production Technologies Association of South Africa (PtSA), the South African Coal Processing Society; the South African Mineral Processing Equipment Cluster (SAMPEC) and South African Capital Equipment Export Council (SACEEC) which will assist with the judging of the ‘New Products & Innovation Awards’.
Walking the talk
Following through with its key sustainability theme, Electra Mining Africa has chosen to partner with Shoose Life. As official partner, the company will use proceeds collected for the event’s catalogue at entrances and visitor and exhibitor donations to supply children with quality school shoes. The company manufactures durable school shoes made from 100% recyclable materials – used, non-hazardous, uncontaminated PVC drip bags, oxygen masks and associated tubes – at R35 a pair for students in need identified through partnerships with educational institutions and community organisations. “We invite all our visitors registering for Electra Mining Africa to buy and donate as many pairs as they would like,” says Hefer. This initiative will go a long way to connecting our youth – the future of this country – with education as a tool to grow the economy, long term.
Hefer concludes, “Electra Mining Africa will connect you with your future in more ways than you can imagine!”
Follow African Mining, incorporating Mining Mirror on LinkedIn – https://za.linkedin.com/company/african-mining-publication – and our Facebook page for more on Electra Mining Africa in the lead up to the show.
Keep an eye out for Electra Mining Africa’s exclusive Kyknet Ontbytsake episode to be aired ahead of the event.
How to connect with your future at Electra Mining Africa: Last year Electra Mining Africa hosted 30 196 visitors with many invited as Premier Visitors. This year the event is also launching a Platinum Guest Campaign and visitors can purchase this enabling status which will entitle you to close, convenient parking and fast-tracked access to the Platinum Guest entrance which offers a lounge/work-station environment and more. Practical steps to making your Electra Mining Africa experience streamlined:
- Step 1: Pre-register! You can do this on the Electra Mining Africa website, for free. Would you like to be a Platinum Guest? Registration for this will be open in July. The amount of Platinum Guest visitors will be limited each day.
- Step 2: Print your badge.
- Step 3: Plan your day! Use the tools provided to preview what is on offer beforehand – the Electra Mining Africa website, the Electra Mining Africa APP and collateral such as the daily activity newsletter available at the show on the day will include detail such as seminar sessions and theatre locations, live visitor activations, product demonstrations and product launches.
- Step 4: Come early, with your printed badge! Avoid the cues as 85% of Electra Mining Africa visitors arrive between 9:00 and 11:00 to get the best leverage out of the show. Your printed badge will fast-track a streamlined entrance.
- Step 5: Use the Electra Mining Africa online exhibitor list and the ‘One Match Business Networking’ tool. This will allow you to select the businesses you would like to interact with. The ‘One Match Business Networking’ programme will enable you to secure a spot in the diary of those exhibitors and tech experts that you want to meet with.
- Step 6: Buy your catalogue and support Shoose Life.
- Step 7: Use our new traffic management system! All outside exhibit areas will be colour coded to demarcate areas for ease of navigation, so look out for signage and coloured carpets.
- Step 8: Come equipped to enjoy! Wear the right gear for fun-filled, long walks and hot days – sunscreen and the right shoes are imperative. Visitors will receive the traditional cap and water bottle giveaways. Electra Mining Africa will supply water refill areas to keep visitors hydrated.
The Electra Mining Africa 2024 team. Supplied by Specialised Exhibitions
The Spekboom – your legacy for sustainability
Be one of the lucky first 300 visitors to receive a home-grown Spekboom from the Eastern Cape – the epitome of sustainability for so many reasons: A Spekboom requires little care, – even if you do not possess “green fingers”, it is a hardy survivor; your trendy pseudo bonsai – this little miracle has an amazing ability to absorb carbon – one small bush can absorb between 4–10 tons of carbon per hectare; it absorbs sunlight daily and photosynthesises at night; its beautiful pink flowers attract pollinators like butterflies, birds and bees in the late spring and early winter; it functions as a natural fire barrier; you can eat the succulent leaves and their acid flavour tenderises meat in a stew; not to mention its medicinal properties – after crushing the leaves you can use the vitamin c rich liquid to treat minor skin rashes, mini blisters, cuts and burns and even sore throats, mosquito bites and sunburn, it is a quick propagator and easy to grow as it requires little moisture; this plant can live for up to 200 years, allowing you to leave behind your very own a legacy of sustainability.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1mHQh3Q0jA – Tanya Visser on the Spekboom