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| Miner Rio Tinto cuts 14,000 jobs | Miner Rio Tinto cuts 14,000 jobs |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| The world's third-largest mining firm, Rio Tinto, is cutting 14,000 jobs as part of plans to reduce its debt by $10bn (£6.8bn) by the end of next year. | The world's third-largest mining firm, Rio Tinto, is cutting 14,000 jobs as part of plans to reduce its debt by $10bn (£6.8bn) by the end of next year. |
| It also plans to defer some of its planned spending on exploration and combine its two London offices. | |
| Rio Tinto, which is listed in the UK and Australia, currently employs 97,000 people worldwide. | Rio Tinto, which is listed in the UK and Australia, currently employs 97,000 people worldwide. |
| It said it was responding to "the unprecedented rapidity and severity of the global economic downturn". | It said it was responding to "the unprecedented rapidity and severity of the global economic downturn". |
| In the past few months, Rio Tinto has been fending off a takeover approach from rival BHP Billiton, which finally abandoned its offer in November. | |
| Price moves | |
| Rio Tinto said that closing one of its London offices would not necessarily lead to job cuts. Less than 2% of its workforce are based in the UK. | |
| It said that the job cuts would comprise 8,500 contractors and 5,500 employees. | |
| As a global miner, Rio Tinto is very sensitive to commodities prices and exchange rates. | |
| It benefited from soaring metals prices in the first half of the year, but has since suffered as they have fallen back. | |
| But falling oil prices have been good news for it - a $1-a-barrel fall in the price of oil adds about $11m to the group's earnings. |