SYDNEY, Australia - Rio Tinto Group, one of the world's largest miners, will cut 14,000 jobs worldwide and reduce capital investment in an effort to control its debt amid waning demand for iron ore and other metals.

The British-Australian company said Wednesday that the job cuts -- 12.5 per cent of its 112,000-person workforce, which includes 13,000 in Canada -- and other operating-cost reductions will save at least US$1.6 billion a year by 2010.

The cuts will be concentrated among contractors, where 8,500 positions will be eliminated while 5,500 of Rio Tinto's 97,000 direct employees face the axe.

Rio Tinto -- burdened with debt taken on for last year's $38-billion takeover of Canada-based Alcan -- also said it will try to sell "significant assets" not previously listed for sale, as it attempts to trim US$6.6 billion in debt by the end of next year.

In Canada, "all announced projects will be advancing; obviously we'll be looking at the timings and the rate of spend," Rio Tinto Canadian spokesman Stefano Bertolli said from Montreal.

"In terms of employee figures, we're not detailing it right now because we have to go through the various stakeholders in the regions." However, Bertolli added that cuts will be made "across the board."

Chief executive Tom Albanese stated that "given the difficult and uncertain economic conditions, and the unprecedented rate of deterioration of our markets, our imperative is to maximize cash generation and pay down debt."

Rio Tinto's US$26-billion debt was a key factor in rival BHP Billiton withdrawing a hostile takeover bid last month in the midst of the global economic downturn.

Other mining companies will likely take similar measures, said John Meyer, an analyst at Fairfax IS investment bank in London.

"The scale of the cuts looks dramatic but we would expect to see this across the industry," Meyer said.

"Companies have expanded in recent years in response to high metals prices, but that's over now. With the recent severe falls in demand, and the recent climate, we can see mining companies pulling back markedly."

Rio Tinto said it will likely be early next year before it releases details on where, when or how the staff cuts would come.

The world's second-largest aluminum producer stressed it remains committed to its strategy of finding, developing and operating large, long-life, low-cost assets.

It is counting on further industrialization of countries such as China and India to support demand for metals and minerals.