The Business of Leisure

Rio Tinto PLC (RIO.LN) has cut about 100 jobs at its copper operation in Utah and warned further positions will be cut later this month as it moves to reduce operating costs after a large part of the pit wall collapsed at its Bingham Canyon mine last month.The London-based company's Kennecott Utah Copper unit in a statement Thursday said it continues to take steps to reduce the impact on its workforce and doesn't yet have a figure for the total number of employees who will be affected. It has offered workers the opportunity to take vacation, unpaid leave or a one-time US$20,000 resignation incentive for retirement.Further changes to reduce operating costs will be needed in the coming months as plans are finalized, it said.Rio Tinto in mid-April estimated more than 165 million tons of earth had slid into the open pit mine, which would reduce planned copper production by about 50% this year. Equipment, including 14 of its 100 haul trucks, drills and bulldozers, was damaged in the slide. ...

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