Protesters keep Buenaventura Peru miners off job

* Silver mine strike began last week over pay, conditions

* Uchucchacua produced 9.27 mln ounces silver in 2010

LIMA, April 12 (Reuters) - Workers have lifted a strike that had stopped output at Buenaventura's (BVN.N) BVM.LM Uchucchacua silver mine in Peru, but a protest by villagers kept them from going back to work, a union leader said on Tuesday.

The miners downed tools eight days ago, demanding higher bonuses and better working conditions from the company, Peru's largest precious metals miner.

"We've already lifted the strike but residents won't let people past and the company isn't concerned to make it secure (for us)," local union leader Marcos Hurtado told Reuters. "The community is blocking the access because Buenaventura isn't resolving their problems."

No one at the company could immediately be reached to comment.

The Andean nation is the world's No. 2 silver producer. Uchucchacua produced 9.27 million ounces of silver in 2010, about 70 percent of Buenaventura's overall output. (Reporting by Patricia Velez; writing by Helen Popper; editing by Jim Marshall) (helen.popper@thomsonreuters.com; +54 11 4318 0655; Reuters Messaging: helen.popper.reuters.com@reuters.net))