Peru Cerro Verde mine eyes expansion -Buenaventura

LIMA, May 2 (Reuters) - Cerro Verde, a leading Peruvian copper mine, is mulling a $1 billion expansion plan that would boost output by 100,000 tonnes to 400,000 tonnes a year, one of its owners said on Friday.

Peru's Buenaventura (BUEv.LM: Quote, Profile, Research) (BVN.N: Quote, Profile, Research), which owns 18.5 percent of Cerro Verde (CVE.LM: Quote, Profile, Research), said it would support the growth efforts. The mine is controlled by Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

Cerro Verde, in southern Peru, produced 269,537 tonnes of copper last year. Benavides said Cerro Verde is expected to produce 300,000 tonnes of copper this year.

"Some preliminary conversations have been in the sense that the expansion of this mine ... going to 400,000 copper tonnes is a possibility and we will be very supportive of that sort of expansion," Buenaventura Chief Executive Roque Benavides said on a conference call.

He said the expansion project could be in production by 2011 or 2012, with a feasibility study ready in 2009 or 2010. (Reporting by Maria Luisa Palomino; Translating by Terry Wade; Editing by Christian Wiessner)