For years I’ve loved the nicknames that seem to exist in every mining camp. I can’t guarantee my son invented any of them during his FIFO days before he headed back to university, but I’d like to think he helped spread a few around.
There’s Cordless: only works for two hours.
ET: always wanting to go home.
KitKat: always taking a break.
Muffler: always exhausted.
Seaweed: just floats around all day.
Sensor light: only works if someone walks past.
And my personal favourite, Wheelbarrow: only works when pushed. There’s normally a wheelbarrow at most footy clubs too.
Aussies always use their own language and sense of humour. And after spending time back at Diggers and Dealers this week for the first time in many years, I realised it has also developed its own dictionary.
My new favourite word is “near-ology”.
It’s a brilliant play on geology. In mining circles, if your exploration ground happens to sit next door to a proven producer like Sandfire or another major discovery, suddenly everyone starts paying attention. It’s amazing how much more exciting a drilling program becomes when it’s “near” something already making money.
Only at Diggers and Dealers could a made-up word like near-ology sound completely legitimate.
And walking back to the new $11 million Goldfields Arts Centre this week I felt like I was catching up with an old friend who has aged exceptionally well.
I couldn’t have been more impressed.
The organisation is first-class, the presentations are polished, the networking is relentless and yet somehow it still feels unmistakably Kalgoorlie.
That’s the magic of Diggers and Dealers. It has evolved into Australia’s premier mining investment forum while never losing its goldfields soul.
One presentation summed up the industry perfectly for me. We were told in hushed tones that a chief geologist had mortgaged his own house to buy shares in the company and even help pay for drilling equipment.
Think about that for a moment. Most people diversify their investments. Miners double-down on their belief. The expression is, you better buy some shares today, because in 12 months you’ll be doing one of two things. Either counting all your new money or calling your mum in tears.
There’s no doubt mining gets into your blood. It always has. It always will.
That same pioneering spirit is why one of my favourite Diggers stories remains the tale of retired Queensland prospector Alex White.
Unable to secure a ticket to the sold-out conference, the 70-year-old simply set up a battered card table across the road with a handwritten sign advertising an iron ore prospect he had discovered while caravanning through South Australia.
He’d spotted some promising rock, sent away samples, pegged the ground and decided someone might want to buy it.
Before long, brokers, executives and corporate advisers were crowding around his little table.
Some were curious. Some were amused. But every one of them knew there was always the chance Alex White had stumbled across the next big discovery.
As one seasoned delegate reportedly said: “That’s what Diggers is all about.”
Exactly. That story captures the entrepreneurial heartbeat of the mining industry better than any corporate presentation ever could.
I also smiled when I met a Kalgoorlie couple at the airport the weekend before the conference. They were heading away just as everyone else was arriving.
Why? They’d rented out their family home to a mining company for the week.
The return? $10,000.
Only in Kalgoorlie. The event has become such an economic force that the whole town shares in its success.
Most Australians probably know Kalgoorlie for three things.
Dean Kemp, one of West Coast’s greatest players, came from there. Paddy Hannan’s discovery changed Australian history.
And the discovery of gold in 1893 transformed an isolated patch of desert into one of the world’s greatest mining cities.
The legendary Golden Mile remains one of the richest pieces of gold-bearing ground ever discovered, helping shape Australia’s economy for well over a century.
I’d now add a fourth reason. Diggers and Dealers.
More than 3000 delegates, 159 exhibitors and representatives from every corner of the global mining industry gathered this week. Miners, explorers, bankers, brokers, investors, financiers and media all descended on Kalgoorlie because this is where deals are done and dreams begin.
The conference has embraced the modern mining world without forgetting where it came from.
It still carries the optimism of a gold rush. The fever hasn’t disappeared.
It has simply become more sophisticated.
In WA, Diggers and Dealers is as iconic as the quokka, as Paddy Hannan’s statue and every bit as much a part of our identity as the Golden Mile itself.
After being away for so many years, I came home with one overwhelming thought.
Kalgoorlie still believes the next great discovery is just one drill hole away.
And that’s exactly why Diggers and Dealers remains one of the most uniquely West Australian events you’ll ever experience.
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