GENEVA: Mining and commodities giant Glencore, weighed down by debt as it struggles against a commodity price crash, announced on Friday it is slashing its worldwide output of zinc by one third.

Glencore, which claims to be one of the world’s largest miners and producers of zinc, said it was slashing its zinc production by 500,000 tonnes across its operations in Australia, South America and Kazakhstan.

The company said its operations at Lady Loretta in Australia and Iscaycruz in Peru would be suspended and operations at George Fisher and McArthur River in Australia and various mine operations in Kazakhstan would reduce production levels.