Exhibit 12.1



Compañía
de Minas Buenaventura S.A.A.

Certification Pursuant
to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002



I, Roque Benavides Ganoza, certify that:



| | 1. | I have reviewed this annual report on Form 20-F of Compañía
                                                          de Minas Buenaventura S.A.A.;
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| | 2. | Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement
                                                          of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make
                                                          the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such
                                                          statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered
                                                          by this report;
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| | 3. | Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
                                                          information included in this report, fairly present in all material
                                                          respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows
                                                          of the company as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;
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| | 4. | The company’s other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible
                                                          for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures
                                                          (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and
                                                          internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act
                                                          Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the company and have:
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| | (a) | Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused
                                                               such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
                                                               supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
                                                               company, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known
                                                               to us by others within those entities, particularly during the
                                                               period in which this report is being prepared;
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| | (b) | Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or
                                                               caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed
                                                               under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding
                                                               the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial
                                                               statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted
                                                               accounting principles;
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| | (c) | Evaluated the effectiveness of the company’s disclosure
                                                               controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions
                                                               about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures,
                                                               as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such
                                                               evaluation; and
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| | (d) | Disclosed in this report any change in the company’s
                                                               internal control over financial reporting that occurred during
                                                               the period covered by the annual report that has materially affected,
                                                               or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the company’s
                                                               internal control over financial reporting; and
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| | 5. | The company’s other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed,
                                                          based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial
                                                          reporting, to the company’s auditors and the audit committee of
                                                          the company’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent
                                                          functions):
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| | (a) | All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
                                                               design or operation of internal control over financial reporting
                                                               which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the company’s
                                                               ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information;
                                                               and
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| | (b) | Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management
                                                               or other employees who have a significant role in the company’s
                                                               internal control over financial reporting.
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Dated:  April 30, 2013



| | /s/ Roque Benavides Ganoza
| | --------------------------
| | Roque Benavides Ganoza    
| | Chief Executive Officer