Orcopampa

On May 27/11, Compania de Minas Buenaventura announced that collective negotiation process has finalized reaching an agreement with the Workers Union of Orcopampa. Activities in mine have been resumed in the morning.

Orcopampa treated 484,617 DST of ore mined from the Chipmo mine, and produced 279,095 ounces of gold in bars and 59,493 ounces of silver. In addition, the retreatment of 536,678 DST of old flotation tailings stored in tailings N° 3 allowed to produce 36,132 ounces of gold and 32,032 ounces of silver. Ore mined from Poracota and treated at Orcopampa accounted for another 244,450 DST of mineral, containing 51,516 ounces of gold and 30,395 ounces of silver in concentrate. Total ore production at the Orcopampa Plant thus reported recoveries of 366,743 ounces of gold and 121,920 ounces of silver. As of year-end 2009 Orcopampa reserves at Chipmo totaled 1,060 DST with 0.613 oz/ST Au and 0.3 oz/ST Ag, representing 650,375 ounces of gold and 318,291 ounces of silver. New discoveries accounted for 225,986 DST with 0.619 oz/ST of gold and 0.69 oz/ST of silver, mainly in the lower levels of the Nazareno vein and in levels 3,390 and 3,340 of the Esperanza, Raluca and Fabiola veins. Mineral resources in the Orcopampa district, including resources at Chipmo and Poracota totaled 3’371,221 DST with 0.243 oz/ST of gold and 0.14 oz/ST of silver, which represents 819,211 ounces of gold and 465,426 ounces of silver. At Chipmo, Ramps 17, 710-4 and 400-3 were deepened and it was continued to deepen the Nazareno shaft down to level 3,205. Likewise the auxiliary shaft at Prometida has been deepened to level 3,298, but still needs to be continued down-hole to level 3,230. Ramps 17, 710-4 and 400-3 were developed down to levels 3,205, 3,342 and 3,381 respectively. The design for the new tailings dam (N° 5) was initiated. Once built, this new dam will increase tailings storage capacity for another 15 years. The project estimates putting the new tailings dam into operation by mid 2012. Finally, in May 2009 the new Cidelco filter press for filtering gold concentrate produced from the flotation of Poracota ore was put into operation. This filter will reduce operation costs (fuel consumption), eliminate smoke emissions produced by the concentrate drying process and achieve better control during dispatch. Browfield explorations at Orcopampa completed the drilling of 112 holes for a total of 9,656 meters: 3,204 meters in Poracota Oeste, 3,162 meters in Pariguanas, 3,154 meters in the Poracota oxides area and 136 meters in Pucay. At Poracota Oeste 12 diamond drills were drilled to confirm the presence of Manto Aguila which appears to be vertical, 60-meter long silicified orebody containing specific 5 to 6 g/t gold. Further down-hole exploration is required. A number of other structures that correlate with the Silvana, Maria Fe and Paola structures were also intersected. These show anomalous values of up to 19.15 g/t gold and appear to continue at depth. Trenches and 84 short drill holes were made in the Poracota oxide area. Estimated indicated resources are 1´975,968 DST with widths of 11.53 meters and grades of 0.049 oz/ST gold, representing 96,824 ounces of gold amenable to cyanide leaching. Fifteen drill holes were made in Pariguanas. These intersected the San Pedro, San Pedro 1 and Alejandra veins. Drill hole PAR 09-05, cut the San Pedro vein with 3.00 meter intervals and 34.74 oz/t silver; drill hole PAR 09-14 intersected an interval of 1.35 meters with grades of 0.14 g/t gold and 15.74 oz/t silver. Another 3.15 meter intersect exhibits a 0.60 meter band with 4.95 oz/t silver and 0.12 g/t gold. On the basis of these drill results it has been estimated 100,000 DST with 20.00 oz/t prospective silver. It continues to move forward with the drilling program. Geological mapping of the Chaqui, Ocoruro Centro and Sur areas of this prospect were completed in order to document structures such as the Ocoruro Norte Fault and the Ocoruro Fault, and also to search for other structures running parallel to the Nazareno vein. A total of 328 samples were collected. Seven of these produced grades in excess of 1.0 oz/t silver, one (from Ocoruro Centro) reported 14.08 oz/t silver and 0.45 g/t gold and another sample showed grades of 6.53 oz/t silver. Samples taken from Ocoruro Sur revealed grades of 3.19 and 4.14 g/t gold. Three samples collected from the Chaqui area showed 18.01, 14.08, and 6.53 oz/t of silver These highly encouraging results justify continuing at-depth exploration drills in this project. In Chilcane, channel sampling was conducted in faults adjacent or associated to the Santiago, Chicaymarca and Angela faults showing signs of hydrothermal activity, to determine whether they are at-depth mineralized feeders. In the Juanita vein a 0.40 -meter wide band reported 3.65 g/t gold and 38.97 oz/t silver. Geochemical tests run on the samples indicate high anomalies of gold, silver, Hg, Te, Ba, Pb and Sb. A 10- drill hole program has been proposed for a total of 3,540 meters before proceeding with further exploration works. At Jatun Cruz, sampling efforts carried out in the southwest extension of the Fatima and Susy veins reported anomalous gold-in-quartzite values. The highest grades obtained were 0.62 g/t gold and 4.24 oz/t silver. These veins extend over another 600 meters in quartzites. At this point, there is an ongoing drilling program set in place to drill 1,750 meters. This has been advanced by 1,236 meters in the first drill hole and we hope to have intersected the Susy and Fatima veins. At this point, there is an ongoing drilling program set in place to drill 1,750 meters. This has been advanced by 1,236 meters in the first drill hole and it is expected to intersect the Susy and Fatima veins.

Compania de Minas Buenaventura, announced that the communities suspended the road blockade to access the Orcopampa mine on June 19, 2009 at 16.00 hours and will resumed operations on June 20 at 00.00 hours.