Due to the declined iron ore prices , BHP billion, Mining giant is planning to slash more jobs at its Australian iron ore unit, in a view to reduce costs. It is estimated that number of job cuts will reach up to 3,000.
The world largest miner, which has around 16,000 employees in the iron ore division has already declared earlier this year that about 170 jobs would lose at its Whaleback mine in the Pilbara iron ore belt and about 100 at the Perth Headquarters. Due to slow Chinese demand growth, Iron ore prices have slumped 31 percent this year. China is the major consumer of Australian ore.
However, according to Wood Mackenzie, the sharp decline in iron ore price forced China to cut its domestic mine production to one fifth, which in turn could benefit BHP and other major miners that they can mine high grade iron ore and ship to china under low costs. During the first half of 2014, the iron ore profit of BHP increased 60 % and just 0.4 percent in Copper.
Source:Scrap Monster