Electra Mining Africa puts innovation in the spotlight and sets new records

Visitors were able to explore thousands of new products, ground-breaking machinery, latest innovations and world-class technologies, with the many live demonstrations giving them an opportunity to see products and machinery in action during the five days of the exhibition. The show also afforded visitors the opportunity to speak to the technical experts on the stands and compare products and brands.

“We have had excellent feedback from our exhibitors,” says Gary Corin, MD of Specialised Exhibitions, a division of Montgomery Group, and organisers of the show. “Many of our exhibitors have been exhibiting with us consistently for many years whilst others were previous exhibitors who came back this year after a short break or exhibiting at Electra Mining Africa for the first time. Those we have spoken to have met their exhibiting objectives, whether that’s brand awareness or generating sales leads, or both.”

By the end of the show, 39,883 visitors had attended this year’s Electra Mining Africa, which was about 27% higher than the previous show in 2022.

“But it’s not just about the numbers,” explains Corin. “It’s about the quality of the visitors that come through. And it’s been impressive. Visitors were from across the industry sectors represented at the show, looking for the latest products, innovations and technologies relevant to them. And they weren’t disappointed by what they saw. Electra Mining Africa has built its reputation as a platform for trade; the place where buyers and sellers meet to do business, contributing to the stimulation of trade in the industrial, manufacturing and mining sectors of the South African economy.”

The New Products and Innovation Awards competition attracted entries from local and international manufacturers exhibiting at Electra Mining Africa. The winners were announced at an exhibitors function which took place on the Wednesday evening.

Charlene Hefer, portfolio director at Specialised Exhibitions says that the the awards celebrate remarkable ingenuity and outstanding levels of innovation. “The innovation displayed across the show was of a world-class standard and this was also reflected in the entries received for the innovation awards competition. Many of the new products and innovations are likely to be exported into Africa and other parts of the world in the coming months now they have been launched to market at the show.”

On the Thursday morning, the deputy minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Nemadzinga-Tshabalala visited Electra Mining Africa. The deputy minister said she was visiting the show to see what technology and innovation as well as investment is taking place in the mining industry. She says she was very impressed by what she saw at Electra Mining. “From my walkabout it is clear that Electra Mining is booming and growing.” She adds that she would like to see the relationship between the expo and her department grow stronger: “Government is interested in such partnership.”

Attributes of a successful 2024

Asked what made Electra Mining Africa the success it was this year, Hefer said that it’s all about collaboration. “We have a great team who have worked really hard to ensure the success of the show, but it’s also the collaboration we have with the industry associations, the trade media, our suppliers, and of course, our exhibitors. We launched a brand new exhibitor training programme this year and spent three days training just over 350 of our exhibitors, and we could see the difference at the show, how they have implemented what they learned. From how they approached build-up and the effort they put into their stands, to the way they were interacting with visitors and how they embraced our theme days. It made a real difference. They took their exhibiting to the next level!”

Corin spoke about the collective when it came to the marketing of the show. “To achieve the number of visitors this year, yes, the marketing was good. But not just ours as organisers. It is the collective effort that makes a show successful. The industry has really bought into this and I think that’s what makes the difference. No individual, no one organisation, can put an event like this together on their own. It was the collective effort of all stakeholders that ensured the success of this year’s show.’

Looking ahead to Electra Mining Africa 2026

When asked where Electra Mining Africa goes from here and what it will look like in 2026, Hefer says that the good news is that already a couple of months ago they started planning for 2026. “There are many new initiatives in the pipeline and some areas that we want to improve for the next show. We will engage with our exhibitors, visitors, sponsors, associations and media partners to get their input too. There’s a lot in our planning mix already, but their input is also crucial for us.”

Corin also reflected on what the industry might look like in 2026. “In two years’ time new technologies will be out there, new solutions, and our exhibitors will be showcasing and demonstrating these new innovations and technologies, whatever they will be. Artificial intelligence is having a major impact, even in our business. How we communicate, how people register to attend, tools that help both exhibitors and visitors on site. We don’t even know yet what will be available in 2026. It will be an exciting couple of years as the unknown becomes known,” he concludes.

Electra Mining Africa is the largest mining, electrical, automation, manufacturing, power and transport trade exhibitions in Southern Africa and one of the largest global mining and industrial shows. It is recognised as a ‘5-in-1 Trade Show’ with its five incorporated shows: Electra Mining Africa, Automation Expo, Elenex Africa, POWERex, and Transport Expo. Local manufacturing also played a prominent role at this year’s Electra Mining Africa, and, for the first time, the Local Southern African Manufacturing Expo was incorporated within the show.

For further information, visit www.electramining.co.za.