Compania de Minas Buenaventura SAA (BVN) chief executive Roque Benavides said Friday that he expects the Yanacocha gold mine to produce almost 2.0 million ounces of gold this year.

"We expect to be very close to 2.0 million ounces this year," Benavides said in a conference call with analysts.

Gold production for the first six months of 2009 was 1,015,610 ounces, an increase of 8% compared to the 942,289 ounces reported in the same period of 2008.

Gold production in full-year 2008 was 1,810,338 ounces, compared to the 1,563,670 ounces reported in 2007.

Yanacocha is run by Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM), with a 51.35% stake, while Compania de Minas Buenaventura holds a 43.65% share. The International Finance Corp. has a 5.0% stake.

-By Robert Kozak, Dow Jones Newswires; peru@dowjones.com; 51-1-99927-7269