Mining giant Rio Tinto is looking to slash hundreds of jobs as a new round of cost cutting gets underway.
Iron ore managers have reportedly begun cutting dozens of positions at the company's Pilbara operations in Western Australia as part of a process unions fear will leave up to 800 employees out of work.
But the company has refused to release details of the job cuts as it condenses operations into four groups - iron ore, aluminium, copper and coal, and diamonds and minerals.
Workers in the Pilbara are worried the axe will fall on hundreds of jobs over the coming weeks and have called for the company to release details of any layoffs.
The losses may not be confined to Western Australia as plunging commodity prices increase the urgency of cost cutting across the company's global operations.
In an e-mail to staff, Rio Tinto Iron Ore chief executive Andrew Harding said large challenges remain for the global miner, despite efforts to improve efficiency and productivity over the past two years.
Potential changes include renegotiated service and supply contracts, maintenance, cuts to warehouse and stockpile inventories and the end of recruitment.
"Change is never easy and I want personally to express my appreciation at the contribution that those leaving the business have made," Mr Harding reportedly said in an e-mail.
Western Mineworkers Alliance (WMWA) representative Stephen Price has called on the company to specify whether voluntary redundancies will be offered.
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