South-West Connect ASX Showcase 2026: Dates, Venue and What Contractors Should Watch For

It is a two-day ASX investor conference run by Vertical Events (RIU Conferences) in Western Australia's South-West. It brings a curated line-up of ASX-listed companies — heavily weighted toward resources — in front of retail investors, self-funded retirees and professional investment advisers. The pitch is the format: a relaxed regional setting where you can actually talk to company executives rather than queue behind institutions in a city ballroom.

The South-West Connect ASX Showcase 2026 runs Wednesday 28 and Thursday 29 October 2026 at the brand-new Saltwater Busselton in Busselton, Western Australia. That is a change of venue — the 2025 edition was held at the Hilton Garden Inn Busselton. Busselton is roughly a 2.5-hour drive south of Perth, or a short flight into Busselton-Margaret River Airport.

2026 is the event's sixth year. It is deliberately smaller than the big city investor conferences — this is not Diggers and Dealers or RIU Explorers. The value is access density: fewer companies, fewer delegates, and far more chance that the managing director of a junior explorer has twenty minutes for you.

Presenting companies are ASX-listed, with a strong skew to WA resources — gold, lithium, nickel, critical minerals and energy explorers and developers — alongside a spread of other sectors. Companies present to raise their profile with the retail investor base and self-directed advisers who move real volume in small caps. Presenting, exhibiting and sponsoring are all handled through Vertical Events / RIU Conferences.

Because the companies presenting here are the ones about to raise money and start spending it. A junior that lands a placement in November is scoping drill programs, earthworks, camp infrastructure, haulage and maintenance contracts in the months after. An investor showcase is the earliest public signal of who is funded and who is stalled. If your pipeline depends on WA juniors moving from exploration to development, this room tells you which names to be talking to.

Read the presenting company list before you go and mark the ones with projects in your service radius. Listen for the operational detail buried in the investor pitch: planned drilling metres, target first production dates, capex staging, whether they intend to owner-operate or contract out. Then introduce yourself to the MD at the booth with one line about what you do and where — not a capability deck. Follow up in writing within a week, before the next raise closes.

City conferences are transactional and time-boxed. Busselton in late October is not. The relaxed, regional setting and small delegate numbers mean executives are around for dinner, drinks and the walk back to the hotel. If you are a contractor or supplier, that informal access is worth more than a scheduled ten-minute slot at a larger event.

28-29 October puts South-West Connect on top of IMARC 2026 (27-29 October, ICC Sydney) — you cannot do both, so pick by audience: IMARC for operators and Tier-1 supply chains, South-West Connect for WA juniors and the retail investor market. It also follows the RIU Resources Investor Roadshow and Diggers and Dealers in the same investor-event family, and lands after the AusIMM International Mine Health & Safety Conference (5-7 October, Perth).