The event attracted 2520 delegates - the second-highest number ever - and it was wall-to-wall people in the two marquees.

A distinct green and gold theme was evident on a number of levels - the event was an all-Australian affair (and mostly all Western Australian) due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

It was also held during the Olympics with Greatland Gold exploration manager John McIntyre being the proud father of rower Annabelle McIntyre, who won gold in Tokyo in the women's coxless four.

"The medal itself catches the eye - they're the right colour, big size, so anything that stimulates the physical demand for gold is very welcome," Greatland CEO Shaun Day said.

And gold proved to need all the help it could get at this year's Diggers, with ‘green' metals well and truly overshadowing the traditional favourite.

Of the 55 presentations, about half were by gold companies, but green metals (lithium, nickel, copper and uranium) accounted for 20 presentations.

Many company attendees lamented the lack of investors, but said it was still good to catch up with people and make other meaningful industry connections.

However, presenters likely still enjoyed the attention of investors from afar, with more than 4000 people tuning into the livestream over three days.

Presentations

Professor Ian Goldin got up in the middle of the night to deliver the virtual keynote from his base at Oxford University.

He told delegates he was most bullish about the metals needed to combat climate change, which set the tone for the three days.

Undoubtedly the biggest talking point of the week was Bill Beament's presentation for Venturex Resources, which was relaunched as Develop.

Beament's presentation, which wouldn't have been out of place in Silicon Valley, was quite polarising.

And while fashion is not normally a theme at Diggers, Beament's attire raised some eyebrows.

He went casual in jeans, an untucked white button-up shirt and a black jacket, a stark contrast to the navy suit, tie and pocket square he presented in while at Northern Star Resources.

Beament also caused a stir by saying "gold's not green".

His former Northern Star colleague Raleigh Finlayson dubbed him Bill "Jobs" Beament, while others compared him to Elon Musk.

Argonaut said the presentation had the "star factor".

"It's not just mining, it's a mission statement. Some investors will love it and it's going to be an interesting journey. Definitely one to watch, going to be hard to value," it said.  

Pilbara Minerals boss Ken Brinsden gave one of the standout presentations, noting that the "swagger" was back for lithium.

The nickel producers IGO, Western Areas and Nickel West, as well as the developers Mincor Resources and Panoramic Resources were also up and about as the price nudged US$20,000 per tonne.

"I'm very aware the one thing that will destroy high nickel prices is high nickel prices and so I'm a little bit conservative in that regard," Mincor managing director David Southam said.

Aside from the green metal thematic, other major themes were WA's labour shortage, ESG, COVID-19 and the vaccine roll-out.

Evolution Mining executive chairman Jake Klein's virtual presentation from Sydney lockdown opened to ‘Jailhouse Rock' and an image of him in a cage.

"I'm really disappointed at how we've gone from thinking we were leading the world in terms of managing the pandemic when there wasn't a vaccine to now there is a vaccine and we seem to be way, way behind the rest of the world," he said.

Getting noticed

With such a large number of companies presenting, exhibiting and attending, it required some to be more innovative on the marketing front.

Miners and service providers went above the standard booth giveaways of pens, chocolates and stubby holders, with some interesting swag on offer.

Auto-mate offered umbrellas, Deloitte had ice cube trays, Sandvik gave away cheeseboards and Lefroy Exploration had scented candles.

The Perth Mint had its normal giveaways of gold foil chocolate bars, but it also had one of the best booth prizes - two one-ounce gold bars.

Nickel explorer Estrella Resources hired space at Eastern Goldfields College, adjacent to the conference, to display drill core.  

Lefroy Exploration and OzAurum Resources each hired helicopters to give delegates joy flights during the conference.

Following in the footsteps of New Century Resources a few years ago, Benz Mining sponsored one of the local kebab shops, with delegates given free food in exchange for a business card.

In a sign of the times, Terra Drilling set up an electronic sign out the front of the conference venue, calling for drillers and offsiders, with a $1000 bonus offered per swing.

Out and about

On the social scene, delegates were spoiled for choice.

Sunday night saw recruitment firm Acacia and Gold Road Resources host functions, while former Rio Tinto CEO Sam Walsh was the guest speaker at Topdrill's sundowner, which raised funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Monday featured a number of lunch events outside official proceedings, while Deloitte and Gold Industry Group hosted their traditional Tuesday breakfast.

As always, the big night was Monday with a number of banks hosting events for clients.

The Macquarie function at the Hannan's Club was well-attended, while the Canaccord Genuity welcome party marked the return of Peter Cook's cover band, The Smoking Guns.

The Smoking Guns returned for a second set on Tuesday night at the popular WASMA/WIMWA function.

Raleigh Finlayson was awarded with WASMA life membership. His sister, Rio Tinto Borates and Lithium managing director Marnie Finlayson, was also in attendance after recently relocating back to Perth from Serbia.

Other shindigs on Tuesday night included the PwC function and the Siren Gold/Iceni Gold cocktail party.

Wilson Prospecting's Roy Wilson found a 100g gold nugget somewhere near Leonora and sold it that night in the pub for $8200 to an unknown buyer.

While a directive from the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA made it clear its members should not attend any establishments featuring scantily clad women, the town's watering holes were still packed throughout the week.

Diversity

While the proportion of female delegates was steady at about 20%, the lift in overall numbers meant there was a higher number of women in attendance.

Diggers 2021 also featured the highest number of women on stage: six.

Fortescue Metals Group's Elizabeth Gaines, South32's Vanessa Torres, Westgold Resources' Debbie Fullarton and St Barbara's Meryl Jones were on presenting duty, while Canaccord Genuity's Jane Tandy and Courtney Libby becoming the first two women to chair sessions (a shout-out to the latter for also enduring two weeks of quarantine to fulfil her role).

Gaines again spruiked the benefits of diverse workforces, while Ken Brinsden encouraged the industry to stand up against disrespect in the wake of mine site sexual assault allegations.

"We are a better industry than some of the behaviour that's unfolded over the last 12 months, so I encourage you all - work harder on the culture in and around our workforce, in and around our work sites, in and around our camps … and if you have a dinosaur who hasn't got with the program, don't just immediately send him down the road, because somebody else is going to pick up that same problem," he said.

"Let's have a crack at rehabilitating individuals, turning them around, making them better people."

Bellevue Gold had a slide highlighting 42% female employees - 135% above the industry average - while BASF had a prominent diversity and inclusion poster on display at its booth, offering tips on how to stamp out sexism.

CME WA's 2021 Outstanding Woman in Resources, Cube Consulting general manager Rebecca Prain, spoke passionately about diversity at the WASMA/WIMWA event.

"Women need amplification and it can be authentically and respectfully done by men and other women," she said.

"There are great male allies in our industry and this number is growing all the time. Can I be very clear - the bright young women in your organisation need allies and they definitely need sponsors."

At the same function, WIMWA founder Sabina Shugg noted the two leadership awards in this year's MNN Awards went to IGO's Peter Bradford and Great Boulder Resources' Andrew Paterson - both of who are WIMWA mentors.

Delegates grounded

There was a lack of site visits before the event due to the lack of Eastern states investors.

Ramelius Resources was one of the few to put on a Sunday site visit - only for it to be cancelled at the airport due to weather.

One of the Qantas flights to Kalgoorlie on Sunday reached its destination, but circled for an hour, only to be turned back to Perth due to an engineering issue.

Delegates finally arrived - about six hours later than planned - with senior management from Gold Road late for their own sundowner.

The travel plans of many delegates was interrupted again on Thursday, when Qantas and Virgin Australia were forced to cancel several flights after Perth Airport was listed as a COVID-19 exposure site.

COVID-19

Diggers was allowed to go ahead with no restrictions under WA's phase five COVID-19 plan. However, the lead-up was not without its scares with Perth going into lockdown only a month out.

There were few signs of COVID-19 at the event, aside from thermal body scanners taking temperatures at the entrance, hand sanitiser stations and a couple of security guards wearing masks.

But by Wednesday afternoon, there were reports of a positive COVID case in Perth and the rumour mill went into overdrive about what it might mean for delegates.

Despite chilling rumours that the positive case was in Kalgoorlie for Diggers, the weak positive test result for a man who had been on an FMG site days earlier was a timely reminder of the threat.

To her credit, FMG boss Elizabeth Gaines fronted up for her presentation, which closed proceedings.

The COVID case did not appear to impact the WesTrac Gala Dinner, which went ahead that night with 1300 people in attendance.  

Tomorrow: MNN's Diggers photo gallery.