The first week of August every year, Kalgoorlie is full. Hotels are booked, pubs are buzzing, helicopters land at the airport in waves, and three thousand mining executives, investors, brokers, analysts and contractors are in town for Diggers and Dealers. If you happen to be visiting that week, you will notice. If you came for the conference, here is what you need to know.
What it is
Diggers and Dealers is an annual mining investment forum held at the Goldfields Arts Centre in Kalgoorlie. It runs three days, usually Monday to Wednesday in the first full week of August. The format is conference-style: company presentations from listed mining companies, a couple of plenary keynotes, exhibitor booths around the periphery, lots of one-on-one meetings between investors and management teams in the surrounding hotels and function rooms.
The presentations are mostly fifteen to twenty minute slots, focused on operational updates, drilling results, project economics, and the kind of substance that resource investors want to hear directly from CEOs and senior geologists. It is not a marketing show; the audience is professional.
The bigger event happens outside the conference room. Investor lunches, broker dinners, corporate-hosted parties, hotel-bar conversations. Most deals announced in the months after Diggers were actually agreed during the conference week.
History
Diggers and Dealers started in 1991. It was founded by a small group of local mining and business identities, including the late Ron Manners and the Kalgoorlie Stock Exchange identities of the period. The original idea was to create a country-mining forum in the goldfields itself rather than asking everyone to fly to Perth for industry events.
It grew steadily through the 1990s. By the early 2000s it was the major Australian mid-cap mining event. The 2010s mining boom pushed attendance toward three thousand. Today it is regarded as the southern hemisphere's largest annual mining investment forum.
It is privately run, by a small organising company, with a clear and consistent format. Sponsorship is mining-industry-heavy. The local Kalgoorlie-Boulder Chamber of Commerce and the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder council both contribute support.
Who attends
- Mining company executives: CEOs, COOs, exploration managers from ASX and TSX-V listed companies, mostly mid-cap and junior, plus some majors.
- Institutional investors: fund managers, family offices, resource-focused investment teams.
- Retail investors: high-net-worth individuals and active retail traders.
- Stockbrokers and analysts: resource specialists from broking houses, sell-side coverage teams.
- Bankers, lawyers, advisors: deal advisory specialists, corporate finance teams, mining-focused legal practices.
- Mining services and equipment companies: exhibitors, sponsors, business development teams.
- Government and regulators: WA Department of Mines representatives, sometimes federal ministers, occasionally international ones.
- Media: resource-focused trade press, mainstream business journalists, podcasters.
Pass costs run into the high thousands; the audience is professional and most attendees are sent by their firms.
The programme structure
Day one, two and three follow a similar shape:
- Morning: registration and coffee, opening plenary, then company presentations on two parallel tracks (gold and base metals usually).
- Lunch: hosted in the exhibition area; informal but structured. Hosted lunches by specific companies elsewhere in town also common.
- Afternoon: more company presentations, panel discussions, themed sessions.
- Evening: cocktail functions, corporate dinners, broker hospitality. Most attendees attend two or three different events per evening.
The schedule is published online before the event. Pre-booked one-on-one meetings happen throughout the day in side rooms; some are scheduled formally through the conference platform, many are arranged by phone or text.
What gets discussed
The presentations cover whatever the listed companies want to put in front of investors. Common themes vary by year:
- Gold price outlook and grade-driven production updates from gold companies.
- Lithium, rare earths, copper and battery-metal projects depending on the cycle.
- WA-specific projects: most attendees and companies have WA exposure, so WA mining sentiment dominates.
- M&A activity and deal speculation.
- Regulatory environment, environmental approvals, indigenous land use agreements.
- Capital markets conditions: are investors funding exploration, are IPOs alive, are debt markets supportive.
The Diggers and Dealers Awards on the last evening recognise standout deals, exploration successes, and individual contributions. They are reported widely in mining press.
For non-attendees: what it means for the town
Kalgoorlie is full for ten days around the conference. Beds within fifty kilometres are booked out at three to four times normal rates. Restaurants are at capacity. Pubs are loud and lively but expect long waits. Rental cars are gone. Flights from Perth are heavy.
If you happen to be visiting that week without a booking, you will struggle. Either book several months ahead or come a different week.
For locals, Diggers Week is the biggest economic event of the year. Hospitality, retail, hire car, taxi, restaurant and accommodation businesses count on it. Many local businesses run special hours, special menus, and increased staff for the week.
If you are attending
Book accommodation six months ahead
Hotels in town book out twelve months out. The big mining companies block-book entire hotels for their teams and clients. By March of the conference year, all reasonable options in central Kalgoorlie are gone. By June, beds in Boulder are gone too. By July you are looking at Coolgardie (40 km), Kambalda (60 km) or further.
Some companies arrange shuttle buses from outlying accommodation; ask if you are with a corporate group.
Plan your meetings
The single biggest reason people attend Diggers is the meetings. The conference itself is the excuse for them. Most senior executives and investors have their day completely scheduled before they arrive. Book your meetings weeks ahead through phone, email, or the conference platform. The breakfasts, lunches and gaps between sessions are where the meetings actually happen.
The right night out
Corporate hospitality runs every evening. Most attendees are at two functions per night. The headline event is the awards dinner on the last evening, ticketed and dressed-up. Most of the after-hours work happens at the Exchange, Palace, Plaza and the function rooms of the bigger hotels.
For broking-firm and corporate hosting, the social side of Diggers is part of the job. The pubs around Hannan Street become extended boardrooms. Sensible people pace themselves.
Practical bits
- Dress code is business smart in the day, lounge suit or smart casual at the dinners. The awards dinner is black tie.
- Weather is winter. Day temperatures around eighteen to twenty-two; nights drop to single digits. Coats and warm layers are useful in the evenings.
- Public transport is minimal. Hire a car or use rideshare. Cabs are limited.
- Conference WiFi is reliable. Mobile reception is fine on Telstra and Optus.
- The town's restaurants book out. If you want a quiet dinner away from the conference crowd, book early or eat at off-peak hours (5pm or 9pm).
Other mining events in town
Diggers and Dealers is the headline event but not the only one.
Mining Skills Forum runs adjacent to Diggers some years, focused on workforce, training and skills issues.
The Goldfields Mining Expo runs in late winter or spring most years, more equipment and contractor focused than investment focused.
Australian Gold Conference and other resource investor conferences in Perth complement Diggers and bring some of the same crowd.
How to think about it
Diggers and Dealers is one of the only events on the calendar where you can see fifty mining companies present their stories back-to-back in a single week, while also having direct access to the executives and major shareholders behind each one. For anyone investing in the resources sector at a professional level, it is one week a year that pays for itself.
A short history of notable years
Some Diggers and Dealers years stand out for what happened around them.
The early years (1991-1995). Hundreds of attendees, smaller venue, less formal. The conference earned its reputation by being the first event of its kind held outside Perth and by letting senior people network with retail investors without the metro-conference formality.
The dot-com mining lull (2000-2003). Lower attendance, fewer companies, but the people who did come were the people who would later run the industry through the 2010s boom. Lasting relationships formed in those years.
The 2010s super-cycle (2011-2014). Peak attendance, gold prices high, China demand strong, every company with a project had a pitch. The town was at capacity for ten days and helicopter traffic from Perth was constant.
The COVID years (2020-2021). The conference was held in modified format, with attendance restrictions and travel limitations. The town adapted but the international and east-coast attendance was reduced.
Recent years. Attendance has stabilised around two and a half to three thousand, with strong interest from critical minerals (lithium, rare earths, copper) and renewed interest in gold during inflationary periods.
Why it matters for WA mining
For mid-cap and junior WA mining companies, Diggers is the year's most important investor event. A successful presentation at Diggers can mean tens of millions of dollars in capital raised over the months following. A poor presentation, or a no-show, can cost the same in lost interest.
For the brokers and analysts who cover the sector, Diggers is where the year's calls get tested. A drilling result presented at Diggers, an updated resource statement, a new project economic study, these are the catalysts that move retail and institutional interest for the rest of the year.
For the town of Kalgoorlie itself, Diggers represents both the biggest economic week of the year and a public showcase of the industry that funds the region. The mining sector's commitment to keeping the conference in Kalgoorlie, rather than moving it to Perth (which has been proposed periodically), has been a deliberate choice. The forum is part of the town's identity now.