A major conference attended by BHP, Rio Tinto and scores of other Australian miners is at the centre of a coronavirus outbreak, fuelling concerns that alternatives may need to be found to the looming season of annual shareholder meetings in Australia.

Hundreds of Australian mining industry representatives were among the 23,000 people attending Toronto's annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference last week, and are now being warned to monitor their health for symptoms of the virus.