Rio Tinto to cut 14,000 jobs, slash spending

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Global miner Rio Tinto , saddled with almost $40 billion in net debt, announced plans on Wednesday to cut capital spending, slash jobs and boost asset sales but said it would hold its dividend steady.

Global miner Rio Tinto, saddled with almost $40 billion in net debt has announced plans to cut capital spending, slash jobs and boost asset sales but said it would hold its dividend steady

Reuters - Global miner Rio Tinto , saddled with almost $40 billion in net debt, announced plans on Wednesday to cut capital spending, slash jobs and boost asset sales but said it would hold its dividend steady.

BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, is targeting an 18% cut to capital spending in fiscal 2014 as part of an industry-wide drive to boost returns from investment. “We need to squeeze returns from our installed infrastructure,” Andrew Mackenzie, the new chief executive officer of Melbourne-based BHP, said Tuesday in notes for a speech at a conference in Barcelona. “Capital and exploration expenditure for the 2014 financial year will decline significantly, to approximately US$18-billion.”

Mining group Rio Tinto has announced that it will cut 14,000 jobs in the face of falling mineral prices and a slowdown in world demand. Last month its competitor BHP Billiton decided not to buy the group due to worsening economic conditions.

Trefis submits: The world's number two iron ore miner, Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO), will cut its existing iron prices for the Chinese steel mills by 2%-3% for the third quarter. The new pricing will put Rio’s 62% Pilbara Blend fines at $168.85 per tonne for the Q3 compared to $171.35 during Q2, 2011. We estimate that during 2011, the average realized iron ore price for Rio Tinto will be around the $100 per tonne.

LONDON (Reuters) - Global miner Rio Tinto has turned increasingly cautious on the outlook for its business over the coming months, prompting it to deepen cost cuts and put new projects under even greater scrutiny, Chief Executive Tom Albanese said on Tuesday. Rio - the world's second-largest iron ore miner and the diversified producer most exposed to China and a recovery in its industrial output - earlier said it had cut its economic growth forecast for China. "There is some good news coming. ...