Alcan jobs hang in the balance; MINING FIRM PLANS TO AXE 14,000 WORKERS.Byline: By PETER TAYLOR A QUESTION mark hung over jobs at a North East plant today after the world's third largest mining firm announced a massive worldwide programme of job cuts. Rio Tinto Rio Tinto may refer to:
The firm currently employs 97,000 people worldwide - 2,000 of them at three UK plants which includes the 650 workforce at its Alcan aluminium smelter and power station at Lynemouth, Northumberland. The firm has said it plans to combine its two London offices but refused to comment on whether the axe will fall at its Northumberland plant. London-based spokesman Nick Cobban said: "We are not specifying which of our operations are likely to be affected at present. Out of the 14,000 jobs to be cut worldwide, 8,500 will be contractors and 5,500 will be Rio Tinto employees. "There has already been a reduction in production at Alcan in Lynemouth recently which did not involve any job losses." The cuts are designed to reduce the EUR EUR In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Euro. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. 40bn of debt Rio Tinto is saddled with by EUR10bn by the end of next year. Tom Albanese, chief executive of Rio Tinto, said the cuts were necessary "given the difficult and uncertain economic conditions, and the unprecedented rate of deterioration de·te·ri·o·ra·tion n. The process or condition of becoming worse. of our markets, our imperative is to maximise cash generation and pay down debt". Mr Albanese has already delayed plans to sell EUR10bn of assets until the global economy recovers. Shares in Rio Tinto reached a high of more than pounds 70 in May but have since fallen to pounds 12.58 as metal prices deflate (file format, compression) deflate - A compression standard derived from LZ77; it is reportedly used in zip, gzip, PKZIP, and png, among others. Unlike LZW, deflate compression does not use patented compression algorithms. and economies across the world go into recession. The firm plans to defer de·fer 1 v. de·ferred, de·fer·ring, de·fers v.tr. 1. To put off; postpone. 2. To postpone the induction of (one eligible for the military draft). v.intr. some of its planned spending on exploration and combine its London offices. Alcan joined Rio Tinto to create a global aluminium leader last year. It followed a successful offer for Alcan by a subsidiary of Rio Tinto. At a ceremony in Montreal Mr Albanese said: "I am proud to be here to welcome Alcan employees into the Rio Tinto family. They have built a company whose values we share." CAPTION(S): THREAT: Alcan at Lynemouth |
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