Rio to cut output, slow expansion

Rio Tinto Group, the world's third-largest mining company, will slow the $1.8 billion expansion of the Yarwun alumina refinery in Australia and cut output from the Weipa bauxite mine because of declining prices.

Annual production from Weipa will drop 23 percent to 15 million metric tons, the London-based company said yesterday in a statement. It cut a total of 705 permanent and contractor jobs at the projects in northern Queensland state, it said.

Rio is eliminating 14,000 jobs worldwide, cutting capital spending by more than half and selling assets to help reduce debt as demand for metals slumps in the global recession.