After a quick walk around it appears this show is about half the size of the previous several.

The entire show has virtually been encapsulated within the dome and main exhibition hall at the Sydney Showgrounds. 

There are only a handful of stands in what used to a very packed outdoor area. 

Given it is still quite early in the day, the attendees are also well down on previous years too.

Pybar has one of the largest pieces of equipment on display with its raisebore.

There are a number of the usual names displaying such as SEW Eurodrive, Austdac, Falk and Rimex.

Hitachi has also made a return. Its stand boasts an equipment simulator that is bound to prove popular with attendees as the show goes on.

However the large names that normally act as drawcards such as Atlas Copco, Sandvik and Caterpillar are all conspicuous by their absence.

It appears many exhibitors have stayed away, partly due to the expense of exhibiting – costs for detailing equipment can run into the tens of thousands, not to mention the costs of moving it to the show – as well as the general downturn in mining.

There has also been a feeling that Reed Mining Events, the organisers of AIMEX, have been greedy by holding the show every two years. It used to be held on a four year rotation.

In response, the organisers of AIMEX say that they were simply responding to industry demand to move it to its two-year cycle.

Whatever, those that are exhibiting are taking it quite seriously.

In the lead up to the show it was not uncommon to see people frantically applying the finishing touches to their displays. A tyre seller carefully removing the blacking from where it had seeped onto the carefully whitened branding. Elsewhere, there was a man carefully polishing his pump shaft (that is not a euphemism). 

Hopefully those exhibitors that have braved the mining downturn to exhibit will get the outcomes they are looking for.