The growth of ore treatment rates during the last decades has required an increase in the tailings impoundment capacity. Consequently, the height and volume of the designed sand dams have reached unprecedented dimensions. This has been caused by environmental constraints according to current regulations. In this context, the sand dam design with the centreline method is an alternative to reduce the sand volume without affecting the global dam stability. This method of construction has been applied successfully in seismic countries with high tailings dams such as Canada and more recently in Peru. This article presents 2D numerical modelling of high tailings dams under a strong seismic event. For this analysis it has been considered a standard section of dam built by downstream in one case. A second case considers the same section modifying its growth method to centreline from a certain height. The seismic response for both methods and the effect of variation in the upstream slope, in terms of seismic deformations, crest accelerations, amplification respect to free field and among others, are compared.