Anglo American says to slash staff by almost two-thirds

Mining giant Anglo American on Tuesday said it plans to slash its workforce by almost two-thirds, from 135,000 staff to 50,000 after 2017, under restructuring triggered by tumbling commodity prices.

The company published a graph showing the expected decline in jobs -- to 99,000 next year and 92,000 in 2017 followed by another sharp reduction -- via a combination of asset sales and internal cuts.

"We will be radically restructuring our portfolio, so the net result is expect to be a reduction to around 50,000 employees," a spokesperson confirmed in an email to AFP.

"But bear in mind that these include assets that we will sell, so the 85,000 jobs don't (all) disappear as many will be employed by new owners of those mines that we sell."