About the Relaves Congress

El 11.° Congreso RELAVES Perú 2026 reafirma su liderazgo como el encuentro técnico más influyente de la región en gestión de relaves, abordando ejes fundamentales como operaciones sostenibles, implementación del GISTM, diseño y operación de depósitos bajo estándares internacionales, y aplicaciones de inteligencia artificial para el monitoreo y la toma de decisiones.

Keynote Speakers

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Keynote Speakers Edición 2025

John
Wates

Principal and Owner
JOHN WATES CONSULTING

Amanda Adams

Principal, Operations Leader, Mining, Minerals & Metals
STANTEC

John
Lupo

Principal and Owner
MAYHEM CREEK, LLC

Tamara Johndrow

Director Tailings, Crushed Leach and Water
FREEPORT-MCMORAN

Jerónimo Covacevich

Head of Tailings and Processing Excellence
BHP

José Luis Lara

Especialista en diseño, operación y seguridad de depósitos de relaves
LARA CONSULTING

List of topics

Sustainable operations: considerations for controlling and mitigating environmental impacts; management of contact and non-contact water; impact and adaptation of tailings facilities to climate change.

Implementation of the GISTM: adaptation, compliance, and the role of the Global Tailings Institute and the ITRB in its application.

Design and operation of tailings storage facilities according to global standards (ICOLD, CDA, GISTM, ANCOLD): experiences and challenges.

Avances tecnológicos en el desaguado de relaves: filtración, espesamiento, pasta, centrifugado, co- disposición y tecnologías emergentes.

Design and operation challenges for tailings transportation at large tonnage and long distances.

New trends in site evaluation and surface and underground tailings disposal technologies.

Lessons learned in the management of old tailings ponds: strategies for rehabilitation, treatment of acid mine drainage in operations, and closure of tailings facilities.

Current and future applications of artificial intelligence in tailings management.

Galería fotográfica del Congreso Relaves 2024

AUSPICIADORES EDICIÓN 2025

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Location:

John Wates

Principal and Owner
JOHN WATES CONSULTING

Application of bursting pressure and conventional drained behavioural theory to the Brumadinho failure.

John Wates specialises in tailings and environmental geotechnics. He has designed mine tailings storage facilities, and industrial and domestic waste disposal sites and has also lead projects involving sustainability assessments, environmental impact assessment, environmental and strategic risk assessment, closure planning, pumping and pipelines and civil engineering. He is an active member of the South African Institution of Civil Engineers and has served as chairman of the geotechnical and environmental divisions. He is an author of a number of technical papers and is active in research in paste technology.

Amanda Adams

Principal, Operations Leader, Mining, Minerals & Metals
STANTEC

Tailings Tales – Sharing Stories of Industry Collaboration for Positive Change

Amanda Adams, P.E, PMP, is a Principal Engineer at Stantec and serves as a member of Stantec’s US Mining leadership team in the role of Business Center Operations Leader. She is a Colorado School of Mines graduate with a B.S. in Geological Engineering.

Her technical experience is primarily focused on the design of tailings storage facilities for mining clients. Her design experience has spanned all phases of project development from siting studies to pre-feasibility, feasibility, basic engineering, detailed design, construction, operation and closure in North and South America.

Amanda is a passionate advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in STEM fields. She is Past President of the Women in Mining (WIM) Denver Chapter and in 2024 received a Distinguished Service Award from WIM. She is one of the founding members of the US Society on Dams (USSD) DEI Committee. Amanda is also highly involved in professional organizations to promote mining and tailings practices, including previously serving as the USSD Tailings Dams Committee Chair and Chair of the SME Tailings and Mine Waste committee. She was also recently elected to the USSD Board of Directors.

John Lupo

Principal and Owner
MAYHEM CREEK, LLC

Weak engineering - Are we missing the point?

Dr. Lupo is a geotechnical engineering with 40 years of experience within the mining industry. His experience includes design of open pit slopes, underground mine backfill and ground support, heap leach pads, tailings facilities (slurry, thickened, paste, and filtered tailings), waste rock facilities and plant site foundations. He is the author of over 65 technical articles in the fields of mine waste, geomechanics, and risk mitigation strategies.

Tamara Johndrow

Director Tailings, Crushed Leach and Water
FREEPORT-MCMORAN

Tailings Innovation – Driving Sustainable Value Through Stepwise Development

Tamara Butler Johndrow is Director of Tailings, Crushed Leach, and Water at Freeport-McMoRan. She received her B.S and M.S. in Civil Engineering and is a licensed Professional Engineer with 27 years of experience in water resources and geotechnical engineering, management and program development. She began her career as a consultant at Golder Associates (WSP) and Engineering & Hydrosystems (WSP Golder).

Ms. Johndrow joined Freeport-McMoRan in 2008, creating the Tailings, Crushed Leach, and Water team to support business critical areas of tailings storage facility, crushed leach stockpiles, and dam safety as well as water management across Freeport’s portfolio. She has had responsibilities for strategic planning, design, construction quality, operational support, inspection, review, governance processes and reporting, and due diligence for tailings storage facilities as well as crushed leach stockpiles, levees, water dams, and water management strategy.

Today, Ms. Johndrow is focused on tailings and water governance, tailings innovation, and water management solutions. She is a trusted advisor to Freeport-McMoRan executive leaders, and she represents the company in various external tailings research and management engagements. She currently chairs the Tailings Management & Innovation Working Group for the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) and the GeoStable Tailings Consortium Steering Committee.

Jerónimo Covacevich

Head of Tailings and Processing Excellence
BHP

Setting up GTMI for success

Jerónimo is a Civil Engineer from the Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María in Valparaíso, Chile and have studies of Master Engineering in Mining from the University of British Columbia. During my 17+ years of professional experience I have worked extensively on tailings projects, governance and technical assurance roles. After near 10 years in consultancy, I joined BHP in 2019, first as Practice Lead Tailings and currently as Head of Tailings and Processing Excellence. As part of this role, my team and I overlook the adequate management of the tailings risk throughout BHP by providing second line assurance on governance and technical support.

José Luis Lara

Especialista en diseño, operación y seguridad de depósitos de relaves
LARA CONSULTING

Application of bursting pressure and conventional drained behavioural theory to the Brumadinho failure.

Con más de 30 años de experiencia en ingeniería civil y geotecnia aplicada a la minería, José Luis es uno de los principales especialistas en manejo integral de residuos mineros, con liderazgo técnico en tecnologías de relaves desaguados y presas de relaves. Ha dirigido y gestionado numerosos proyectos en Chile, Brasil, Venezuela y Perú, abarcando todas las etapas del ciclo de vida minero: diseño, construcción, operación y cierre.
Cuenta con maestrías en Geotecnia y en Administración de Negocios Globales, y una sólida trayectoria como consultor y director de proyectos de gran envergadura. Además, participa activamente en congresos internacionales, donde ha presentado innovaciones en relaves espesados, filtrados, co-disposición y relaves cicloneados, contribuyendo al avance tecnológico en la gestión responsable de residuos mineros.