Record 2010 silver and gold production by Fresnillo as it beats targets.

Mexican precious metals miner Fresnillo produced record levels of gold and silver in 2010....

Mexican precious metals miner Fresnillo produced record levels of gold and silver in 2010, beating its targets at a time of higher precious metal prices, and said output should continue to rise this year.Silver production rose 2 percent to 42.1 million ounces, including output from the Silverstream agreement, and gold output jumped 33 percent to 368,995 ounces. It had targeted 41.1 million ounces of silver and 340,000 ounces of gold for 2010.The figures "place us in a good position to report strong financial results for 2010," spokesman Arturo Espinola said on Friday. He declined to give further guidance.Gold rose to record highs in 2010, up for the 10th year in a row on a weaker dollar and global economic uncertainty, while silver hit a 30-year peak to rise 83 percent on the year."With continued positive silver demand outlook, coupled with a traditional investor appetite akin to gold, silver prices remain well above the historical average and leave Fresnillo well-placed to reap the benefit," Liberum Capital said.The London-listed miner expected silver production to rise 5 percent this year to 44 million ounces and gold output to increase 8 percent to 400,000 ounces.Fresnillo, the world’s largest primary silver producer, is looking to overtake BHP Billiton which produces more silver as a by-product from other metals, as the world’s biggest overall silver producer. BHP Billiton produced 45.4 million ounces of silver in the year to June 2010.Fresnillo said its silver output in the fourth quarter was 10.5 million ounces and it posted a record quarterly gold production of 100,822 ounces as the Soledad-Dipolos mine which started producing last January.Numis Securities said the results were good and slightly ahead of its expectations.Fresnillo plans to spend $251 million on exploration this year, up 151 percent on 2010, as it seeks to produce 65 million ounces of silver and more than 400,000 ounces of gold by 2018.The company said construction of the Saucito development project, and expansions at Cienega and Soledad-Dipolos were on track to be completed in the first half.The shares were up 1.7 percent at 0836 GMT, outperforming 0.6 percent decline in a British mining index. (Reporting by Julie Crust; Editing by Paul Sandle and Dan Lalor)