Hence, the conference program has been modified to adapt to this context, he pointed out, since the classic program of three full and intensive days has been changed to one of five days where technical programs will be held in the afternoons, while special programs of different topics will be held in the mornings.

In addition, presentations will be recorded on the same platform and will be available until the end of the month, in case participants fail to connect at the scheduled presentation time. We are also providing the facilities for participants to be able to connect at the time of the conference wherever they are.

"We have organized the technical program based on three pillars: the first will deal with Innovation in exploration with talks focused on the development of new exploration techniques and methodologies," said Benavides, who is also Exploration Manager for Peru and Ecuador at First Quantum Minerals.

The second pillar is focused on Economic Geology which will address exploration success stories and advances in geological knowledge in Peru and the region. While the third pillar focuses on all the steps necessary to make a deposit viable and turn it into a mine, such as geometallurgical studies, resource identification, community relations, etc.

The geoscientific community has responded very well to this Congress modality, he said. "We have received 94 technical papers from different countries of the region and the world, of which we selected 31 for oral presentations and 29 for poster presentations," he explained.

As for the oral presentations, Benavides said that these will have a duration of 15 minutes and held live, in blocks of three presentations and will have a Q&A session at the end of each block.

Posters, on the other hand, are documents that present the work in a summarized manner and will be presented by their author in a brief presentation that will be previously recorded and will be available with the document throughout the conference to be visualized by the attendees at any time. And participants will have the opportunity to ask questions to the author if they wish to do so.

In the mornings we have organized 5 thematic sessions. On Monday and Tuesday junior companies will present their projects, while on Wednesday it will be the turn, for the first time, of independent prospectors. We believe that these are crucial spaces for the geoscientific community to learn about these projects and the opportunities that are being developed and thus encourage more investment in these early stages of exploration.

On Thursday, Ingemmet will present its scientific and technological advances at the service of our community. Finally, on Friday there will be a special round table discussion on Peru on the road to CRIRSCO, which is a self-regulated association of Peruvian mining professionals who produce and sign technical reports and mineral resources for international stock exchanges.

Finally, the keynote speeches will be given by leading professionals in their fields of study.

• Dr. Antoine Caté (SRK Toronto) - "Machine learning for exploration: a review of current and future tools".
• Dr. Thierry Sempere (ANDES C&P – Peru) - "Exploring Peru for metals and hydrocarbons using innovative thinking".
• Dr. Jon Hronsky (Western Mining Services – Australia) - "An integrated model for Cu and Au mineralization at convergent margins: two fundamental processes interacting in variable geodynamic situations".
• Dr. Michael Doggett (Doggett & Associates – Canada) - "Transforming mineral resources for a sustainable future: lessons from the first 20 years of the new millennium".
• Msc. Eco. Erik Heimlich (CRU Group – Chile) - “Global copper market: short and long term fundamentals”.

Finally, there will be a special session on the contribution of women to the mining industry in Peru, which will be led by Silvia Koller from the Geological Society of Peru.