The event continues with its philosophy of providing a one-stop-shop of pertinent information for any company interested in operating or investing in the mining space in the region, with expert opinion from more than 50 speakers and panelists, with simultaneous English-Spanish interpretation.

CGS2020 is a free-to-attend event with a programme organised into daily themes of ESG, legal, projects and technical topics with two-hour sessions featuring keynote presentations and discussion panels separated by generous breaks to allow attendees to stretch their legs and catch up on email.

The legal day features a keynote presentation from the recently appointed president of Colombia's ANM National Mining Agency, Juan Miguel Duran, followed by panels of leading natural resource lawyers in Colombia and Ecuador discussing the developments in the legal-regulatory environments in their respective countries.

ESG day features a panel on how ESG is becoming an ever-increasingly important factor in investment decisions featuring Cynthia Urda Kassis of Shearman & Stirling, Jeff Swinoga of EY, Mark Fellows of Skarn Associates, and B2Gold. Latin America is an emerging market region with its own particular profile of political and social risks, which will also be addressed.

The issue of small-scale miners, many of whom operate informally, will also be a focal point with participation of Nicole Smith of the Colorado School of Mines, Marcin Piersiak of the Alliance for Responsible Mining and Jorge Jaramillo, Secretary of Mines for Antioquia.

Projects day will see representatives from IAMGOLD, B2Gold, Royal Road Minerals and Agnico Eagle Mines discuss the need for an exploration policy in Colombia, while consultant geologist Dick Tosdal will provide a masterclass on porphyry deposits and Hildebrando Leal-Mejía of the University of British Columbia will present the latest research on the Middle Cauca belt.

The event will present updates from various exploration and development projects in the region from Caldas Gold, Los Cerros, Calibre Mining, Solaris Resources, OutCrop Gold, Atico Mining, B2Gold, Antioquia Gold and Cordoba Minerals. AngloGold Ashanti will also discuss decisions behind the mining technology selections for its Quebradona copper-gold project in Antioquia.

Technical day will feature a special panel looking at how mining and exploration companies can establish deeper links and longer productive chains with local universities as commonly happens in Canada and Australia, with a keynote from Jennifer Abols of the Goodman School of Mines about how Canadian universities work with miners.