Some 250 executives of some of the world’s top gold-mining companies are forecast to attend the second annual Colombia Gold Symposium November 14-15 at Hotel San Fernando Plaza in Medellin.

According to symposium organizer Paul Harris, delegates will hear presentations from more than 15 exploration and development companies including Minesa, Continental Gold, Red Eagle Mining and Antioquia Gold.

This year’s edition of the symposium also features a session on the copper potential of this region, “which is attracting increasing interest from large producers as well as explorers, particularly given the increasing copper price environment,” according to Harris.

On that front, Gloria Prieto of the Colombian Geological Survey (CGS) will provide an overview of Colombia’s copper potential and explain an upcoming auction of copper-exploration concessions.

“In terms of Colombia’s gold potential, Orosur will provide an update about the Anza project where it recently restarted drilling, Gran Colombia Gold will discuss the high-grade mineralization it is finding at its Marmato project and Tim Coughlin of Royal Road Minerals will talk about exploration in Nariño, one of Colombia’s most promising areas now that the civil conflict with the FARC is ending,” Harris added.

Meanwhile, Silvana Habib, president of Colombia’s National Mining Agency, and Santiago Angel of the Colombian Mining Association, will discuss “efforts to improve [mining] sector administration,” while a regulatory session will include a roundtable discussion by natural-resource lawyers discussing “strategies for companies to adopt to deal with particular aspects of bureaucracy,” he said.

On a related front, Birsa International will head a session on optimizing community relations; Intera will talk about responsible water management and communication; Brigitte Baptiste of the Humboldt Institute will discuss whether and how mining can be compatible with the environment; and Control Risks will talk through the issues and opportunities arising from Colombia’s peace process with guerilla groups.

Field trips following the conference include visits to San Matias (Cordoba Minerals), San Ramon (Red Eagle Mining), El Roble (Atico Mining), Buritica (Continental Gold) and Anza (Orosur).

On the finance front, the symposium will include expert speakers from Canadian bank CIBC, Peru’s Kallpa Securities, EY, Oreninc and NortonRose Fulbright, Harris added.