Australia's richest woman Gina Rinehart wants employees at her Roy Hill iron ore project in Western Australia to accept pay cuts so job losses can be avoided.
Chief executive Barry Fitzgerald said that would reduce the potential for future redundancies.
"We felt it was more important for our people to retain their job rather than pursue workforce reductions as a cost-saving strategy in response to market conditions," Mr Fitzgerald said.
The resources boom had raised salaries to unsustainable levels, he said, and cutting salaries was a prudent measure to keep the company competitive over the long term.
Salary reductions will range from five per cent to 10 per cent, with executive and senior management taking the biggest cut.
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But there will be no salary reductions for existing employees in lower remuneration bands, accounting for half of the Roy Hill workforce.
Mr Fitzgerald said the company wanted to retain as many jobs as possible.
Construction of the mine was more than 85 per cent complete and first exports remained on track to start by the end of September, Roy Hill said.
In operation, the mine will have a peak workforce of about 2000 people.
